Q&A With ABi Channel Chief Justin Chris-Tensen

Former TelePacific Communications channel chief Justin Chris-Tensen has been named senior vice president of sales and marketing for Pennsylvania-based American Broadband Inc. (ABi) with responsibility for direct and indirect sales channels.

Chris-Tensen was previously the vice president and general manager of telepartner sales and marketing at TelePacific, a CLEC operating in California and Nevada. Before that, he held posts at various telecom companies, including Telegate, GST Telecom, ICG Communications and MCI.

ABi Channel Chief Justin Chris-Tensen

Chris-Tensen is filling a new role for ABi, a broadband aggregator and managed network service provider. While founded in 2001, the company in 2009 transitioned to a new management team led by CEO Thomas Grundman. COO Richard Ellsworth took on the sales management hat. Signs of an economic rebound and pent-up demand spurred the company to bring on a full-time sales and marketing professional. Part of this role will be to build the company’s indirect sales channel.

PHONE+ interviewed Chris-Tensen about his channel plans.

PHONE+: It’s fair to say ABi isn’t well-known. Can you tell me more about it and what attracted you to go to work there?

Chris-Tensen: Yes, it is true [that ABi isn’t well-known] and that, frankly, was the main reason for my interest in joining the team, as opportunities like this don’t come along very often. ABi’s value proposition has much in common with the value proposition of an agent in so much as we both must ensure that the customer’s best interest is served for a fair price — and that is what we do every day.

ABi was founded in 2001 as an aggregation play, delivering high-capacity managed network solutions provided by underlying strategic partners (ILECs, CLECs and wireless providers in addition to service providers such as cable television operators, power companies and other providers), and our time is now. We have a true “anywhere to anywhere” reach that enables us to custom build every solution, ensuring best-in-class technology from the current best-in-class providers.

As I reflect on the history of the industry, a company without a bricks-and-mortar network, even five years ago, would have been received with eye rolls from competitors and prospective customers alike. Now, due to rapidly changing technologies, this perceived deficiency is suddenly a strength. Facilities-based providers seem to emerge and fade on a daily basis — they bet the farm on their best guess at customer appetite for a given technology and innovation that results in a hugely expensive race to market — where many slip and fall down. In 2010, as in years past, that can equal a lot of risk for investor dollars.