Digital Broadband pulls out of Syracuse

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Dec 22, 2000 by Dickinson, Casey J

SYRACUSE - Digital Broadband Communications (DBC) has closed its Syracuse office as part of a corporate shakeout that eliminated 85 percent of the company's 526 employees. DBC was unable to attract sufficient financing for its business plan, according to a statement issued by the Waltham, Mass.-based Internet and telephone provider.

"New investors have been unwilling to invest in our sector," said Valeri Marks, president and CEO of Digital Broadband Communications.

The privately held company announced plans to enter the Syracuse market in February this year. At the time, company co-founders Mark Dunn and Stephen Catanzano expressed optimism that DBC would be able to survive in the highly competitive upstate telecommunications market.

DBC's Syracuse business plan called for a staff of 20 employees evenly divided between sales and technical workers. The company had planned to install its own communications infrastructure after initially operating with lines leased from Verizon.

Digital Broadband has approximately 1,000 customers in New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. A recorded message about the company's restructuring greets callers to the company's darkened Salina Meadows office. DBC customers, the recording says, will soon receive a phone call and letter from the company, explaining the disposition of their service.