3 minute read
Treasuring the beauty of community and the Blue Ridge Mountains
In western North Carolina, the blue hue of the mountains fading into the sky takes your breath away. But those gorgeous mountains make for a tough area to cover with wired and wireless communications. Fortunately, the communities deep in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains can count on Carolina West Wireless for highquality wireless communication.
When Skyline Telephone, Surry Telephone and Wilkes Telephone banded together to form Carolina West, they created a wireless network that delivered the same types of service and value to rural communities as the residents of Raleigh, Charlotte and Winston-Salem enjoyed. Today, that same commitment holds true. Carolina West Wireless recently launched its 4G LTE network, marking a key company milestone and faster speeds for customers.
“Regional Connect Magazine” caught up with CEO Slayton Stewart to learn more about Carolina West Wireless.
Q: Tell us about the communities
Carolina West Wireless serves.
A: Our main industries are agriculture, manufacturing, furniture and lumber. We have a number of universities in the area, including Appalachian State, Lees-McRae College, Lenoir-Rhyne and an extensive community college system. Additionally, tourism is big, as people can’t resist the mountains’ fall foliage. Musical roots run deep here. Every year, more than 100,000 visitors from around the world flock to the region to catch notable acts (including Willie Nelson, Randy Travis, Steve Martin and Zac Brown Band) at MerleFest.
And many people may not know it, but NASCAR started here. Back when bootleggers transported moonshine over the county lines, they modified their cars to evade the police. That habit of modifying cars and racing them turned into NASCAR.
Q: What are Carolina West Wireless’ core values?
A: We have four pillars of success: network, value, people and local. We try to create the best network possible because that’s something our customers deserve, and frankly, need. We aim to provide our customers with better value than residents of
North Carolina’s metro areas receive. People refers to both our customers and employees: We want everyone to be happy and continue to come back. Finally, local refers to being a good community citizen. We give back and support whatever we can – schools, local hospital expansions, kids’ sports teams, volunteer fire departments and more.
Q:
A:
What do you enjoy about serving this community?
Carolina West is owned by co-ops, which means that indirectly we’re owned by the community. There’s more to return to the community than just financial results. We invest in community events, sponsor universities and capital projects and employ as many people as we can – in other words, we help the communities we serve thrive. But the best part is being a part of a community, and feeling connected to the friends and neighbors we serve.
Q:
A:
What excites you about the future of 5G?
For us, it’s about reaching areas that we don’t reach today with a highquality broadband service. We still have plenty of customers who only access broadband with a satellite. 5G will allow us to provide faster speeds and a better customer experience throughout our network.
Q:
A:
What do you value most about your partnership with Ericsson?
I’m impressed with Ericsson’s commitment to the U.S. wireless market. They commit leaders and resources to associations like Competitive Carrier Association and CTIA. I serve on both of those boards, and we deal with industry operational and regulatory issues. Ericsson is always willing to help us with these issues so that we can ensure the business environment sets us all up for success.
Q: What is one thing you’d like people to know about Carolina West
Wireless that they likely don’t know?
A: In addition to supporting our community and providing highquality service, we work really hard to make sure our employees are happy working here. We strive to provide the right work-life balance and the highest quality benefits, including a pension fund.
Recently, we received some validation that we’re on the right track. Our employees voted us “A Great Place to Work,” and we are now certified as such in the U.S. That’s something we’re very proud of, and we will continue to work hard to keep our employees happy and successful.
