Press Release

 

PRESS RELEASE

 

July 22, 2003

 

10,000th Line Celebration!

 

10,000th Line Celebration!

 

NorthStar Access is celebrating a milestone – as of the last week in July of 2003 they will have 10,000 telephone lines in service.

 

NorthStar Access provides telephone service in competition to Qwest in five communities located north of the Metro area.

 

Paavo Pyykkonen, President of NorthStar Access says, “It’s quite an achievement for a company that is less than four years old, considering the highly competitive nature of our industry and the economic downturn we experienced recently.  Everything we do is about how to serve our customers and we owe our success to them.  Without our customers and the confidence they have shown in NorthStar Access, we could not have achieved this milestone.”

 

Leading up to the milestone of 10,000 phone lines in service was another marker of success last fall when NorthStar Access began to operate with a positive cash flow. This is rare for a new company in this industry. Chris Mettling, Marketing Communications Manager, said, “We offer unique services, fair rates, and operate efficiently which put together is uncommon. The fact that NorthStar Access is managed well and is a financially healthy company, is something customers can take comfort in—we are capable of excellence for them.”

 

As with any start-up company, the beginning was marked by experiences to learn by. “We are especially thankful to our early customers, who stayed with us during the early year of growing pains. It’s rare now to experience any bumps, but there were some when we were a new company,” said Pyykkonen. “Customer’s now know and trust our capabilities.”

 

As evidence of this, Mettling sites growing customer satisfaction ratings. “We’ve polled a sample of our customers yearly, for two years now. Our customers have rated NorthStar Access very favorably.  In fact they have rated NorthStar Access considerably better than our competition.”

 

To celebrate the addition of the 10,000th telephone line in service, NorthStar Access will be awarding one customer in each of the five towns they serve an honorary prize representing the milestone. Each of the new customers, chosen at the approximate time of the acquisition of 10,000 lines, will be awarded a $100 bill cash prize. The projected award week will be the last week in July. Stay tuned for news of the winner in your town.

 

NorthStar Access is a local telephone company serving the communities of Cambridge, Elk River, Mora, North Branch, and Princeton. NorthStar Access combines a unique offering of high-tech communication services, along with strong local presence in north metro communities, including hometown-based employees and local offices. NorthStar Access offers the all-new fast Internet with fast DSL Internet called iZoom, traditional Internet, local telephone service, long distance and other data communication services. NorthStar Access is a subsidiary of Sherburne Telesystems.

 

END

Chris Mettling, Marketing Communications Manager
NorthStar Access, Everybody's Talking
716 Freeport Avenue, Elk River, MN 55330
Direct 763-635-5017, Customer Service 763-633-4672, Fax 763-633-9994

www.northstaraccess.com , chrism@nsatel.com