Northpoint Communications

In the wake of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, a new breed of upstart telecommunications companies – “CLECs” – arose to challenge the monopolist incumbents. Most of these focused on voice services, but Northpoint deployed new, DSL-based broadband services. Founder Michael Malaga and his team had to innovate on technical, operational, sales / marketing and regulatory dimensions all at once to make this new model work. Northpoint went public in 1999 and was subsequently acquired by AT&T.