Minnesota battle

America's Network, Nov 1, 2004 by Grahame Lynch

Those familiar with Minnesota's telecom sector will be aware of the somewhat disparaging term "Grunseth's Groupies," a name given to a group of campaigners and advisers to 1990 Republican candidate for state governor Jon Grunseth who all went on to effectively create that state's competitive carrier sector. Operators such as QAI, NewTel, New Access and Access Anywhere were all founded or managed by alumni of the Grunseth campaign.

Now, the last major remaining connection with the so-called GGs and Minnesota has been severed, with NewTel Holdings to be sold to Tasmanian public company Orion Telecommunications, a firm that still retains some shareholder connections to Grunseth's now ex-wife (and Minnesota regulatory official) Victoria. Orion and its new NewTel holdings are primarily comprised of some neat resale operations in Europe and Australia--there appears to be little ambition to do business stateside.