Americatel Names New CEO

Americatel, a provider of telecom services to ethnic consumers and businesses in the United States, announced Wednesday that Charles “Chuck” G. Taylor Jr. has been appointed president and CEO. Taylor replaces former president and CEO, Tomas Perez-Ducy, who left Americatel earlier this month to pursue other opportunities.

Americatel has been owned and operated by Platinum Equity LLC since 2006. Platinum Equity also owns Matrix Telecom Inc., Covad Communications and DCA Services.

Taylor currently is president of Dallas-based Matrix Telecom and will continue in that role.

Taylor also assumes operating responsibilities for Americatel and its wholly owned subsidiary, Startec Global Communications. His first priority is to drive the development of Americatel’s North American voice network and its retail product offerings under the Americatel and Startec brand names.

Americatel-branded services such as 1010-123, Cellular Accesso and LíneaPaís primarily target Hispanic consumers in the United States. Startec-branded services are targeted primarily to non-Hispanic consumers throughout the United States and Canada. The key markets it serves are of Asian, European and Middle Eastern origin. Startec markets a range of dial-around as well as Direct Dial and CellConnect services.

Americatel’s network consists of owned and leased facilities, operating and termination agreements, and resale arrangements. Americatel’s technology assets include a network of IP gateways, international gateways, domestic switches and ownership in undersea fiber-optic cables.

“I am very excited about the many great opportunities that lie ahead for Americatel, our customers and our partners,” said Taylor in a press statement. “The company has a vast amount of deployed network assets as well as a fantastic brand name in a variety of good markets. We will be expanding our existing product lines with additional services while also collaborating with global partners who share an interest in the markets we serve.”

Taylor, 50, a Michigan native and long-time Dallas resident has more than 22 years of experience in the telecom industry, in both retail and wholesale business models.

In September 2007, he was named president of Matrix Telecom, a company he founded in 1990 and left in 1996 for executive positions at Pacific Gateway Exchange and as founder and president of Local Gateway Exchange. He rejoined Matrix as CFO in October 2001 with responsibility for all finance, accounting, collections and regulatory affairs.

Taylor has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Lamar University. He has been a certified public accountant in Texas since 1984.