Certified Gigabit
Metronet’s Bet on Fiber
Paying Off Across 16-State Footprint
By Sara Winegardner
Metronet CEO John Cinelli never expected to step foot into the telecom space.
He started his career as a lender, working in D.C. and Boston before falling into the telecom space in 1990 as an employee of a tiny company that sold telephone equipment. He moved into the middle mile fiber space in 1996 with Kentucky Data Link, and with the expertise of Cinelli and his father Al, the company slowly grew its service region to 26 states and 30,000 miles of underground fiber routes under its parent company, Q-Comm.
As that was happening, Cinelli began thinking about the growing internet business and the number of consumers that were looking for an upgrade from dial-up. “We started building this business and at the beginning, we kind of flipped the coin and said should this be a coax network or a fiber network?” Cinelli says. “Fortunately, it landed that it was a fiber network and we’ve been growing it since then.”
And so Metronet was born in 2005. Windstream eventually came in 2010 and purchased Q-Comm, allowing Cinelli to devote all his time to the burgeoning fiber company. Since the first day it opened its doors, the operator strived to have a culture that would set itself apart from others, but there weren’t always words to describe what made up the company. That changed four years ago when a group of mid-level managers came together and were instructed by Cinelli to write down an authentic read on what Metronet was built on and what it would continue to strive for in the future. They came up with three promises: to take care of each other, to take care of the company and to take care of the customer. Those promises are now the bedrock of everything Metronet does.
“It sounds very platitudinous, but honest to goodness, when we look at decisions, even hard decisions, we look at it through those lenses and it helps us make a good decision,” Cinelli says. “I think that more than anything is what’s been the reason for our success.”
Those promises and a fundamental belief in treating others with dignity and respect have gone a long way to attracting talent at Metronet, and that talent tends to bring their friends along for the ride. In January, approximately 45-50% of new hires were friends or family of people who are in the company.
“We’ve paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in these bonuses because people in the company are recommending friends. For me, it makes me feel really proud because what’s a better recommendation than a family member?” Cinelli says.
Metronet’s success story has reached a crescendo in the last few years, but that was something of a surprise to upper management. That’s not because Cinelli’s leadership team didn’t believe in the value of fiber. It’s because the pandemic drove everyone into a cave of uncertainty. There was no promise of any business, let alone a boon. But people began reaching out and asking about more reliable internet options with better bandwidth. That success has allowed the company to grow even more through a merger with Vexus Fiber and the acquisition of Michigan-based fiber ISP CTS. It now offers service or is actively constructing in more than 250 communities across 16 states and is delivering symmetrical speeds of up to 10 gigabits.
As Metronet has continued to expand its footprint, it has become known for designating the communities in which it builds Certified Gigabit Cities once they reach certain build benchmarks. It’s in part a way to educate the outside world on the power of Metronet’s network. At the same time, the initiative helps to promote quality of life in the underserved small towns that Metronet likes to expand into.
“We want to say how can we get this idea out there that not only is this a small town, but they have sophisticated connectivity. If you’re a company or if you’re an individual, you can live here and you can be well connected to the rest of the world,” Cinelli says. “The biggest thing about it is it’s an awareness of the technology plus it’s something that communities can use to market themselves.”
Greencastle, Indiana, for example, is a Certified Gigabit City as well as the home of DePauw University. That Gigabit City designation is a promise to all that come there that they’ll have the chance to reliably access those speeds within the town limits. With Metronet usually entering a market as a second or third entrant, it also helps produce additional marketing buzz.
Metronet also has engaged in dialogue with those communities to ensure the residents understand that they have another choice, Community Project Manager Linzee Smiley-McIntosh says. Open forums and city council meetings are hosted and residents and businesses are invited to come and ask questions.
“Most of the markets we go into, there is already a telephone company, there’s already a cable company and we’re the third choice. People were like, ‘thank goodness, we have a choice,’” Cinelli says. “And on top of that, not only do we have choices and really fast speeds and symmetrical speeds, but we offer great customer service.”
Customer service at Metronet includes getting involved in new markets and becoming an integrated member of those communities., whether that’s sponsoring sports teams, helping customers in need or getting involved in events like 4-H fairs.
“There may be a story of one of our technicians who saw an elderly person’s front walk needing to be shoveled because there was snow, and they feel like they have the freedom to do that,” Cinelli says. “That’s an example of the mindset—do what it takes to take care of that customer and go above and beyond.”
He acknowledges that not everything the company does is perfect, but what matters is the effort to continue trying to satisfy as many customers as possible and to spread care and show kindness when possible.
Right now, Metronet is in the process of shifting its customer service approach from a reactive one to a proactive one.
“We should get to a point even using AI and using the functionality of the network to resolve your issue before you know you have it. That’s the future of customer service and we’ve got to make sure we’re staying up with that,” Cinelli says. “We’re spending a lot of money right now actually on refreshing our tech stack so we can deliver that kind of proactive versus reactive customer service.”