LV native leads company into telecom market

Las Vegas native Clark Peterson doesn't have the scars to show for it, but he's participated in the telecommunication battles over the last dozen years since Congress opened the doors to competition.

Now Peterson is chief executive officer of a new type of phone company competitor, TeleSphere of Phoenix, which he believes can compete with giant telecommunications companies. TeleSphere provides business customers with a turnkey solution for voice, data and Internet services.

Businesses can contract with TeleSphere for two or three years of phone service instead of buying a private branch exchange or PBX for $20,000 to $80,000 businesses, buying phone sets, and hiring a technician to install the equipment.

Peterson's company provides all the software and hardware for phone service. It offers private dedicated lines to businesses ranging from 10 lines to customers with multiple locations around the country and several hundred lines.

TeleSphere offers features such as simultaneously ringing land line and cellular phones; systems that allow a client to switch to cellular from land-line as he leaves the office; conferencing functions; and telephone links through Microsoft Outlook.

"This is like iTunes for telephones," he said, he said referring to Apple Inc.'s online music service. "We've essentially built a phone system for the whole country. We believe that we're at the beginning of a very big wave in hosted PBX space."

TeleSphere operates in 44 states, but it chose Las Vegas as the first expansion market to get a local staff and offices starting July 30.

Peterson intends to roll out another location with offices and staff every three months.

TeleSphere is preparing to open its permanent office in southwest Las Vegas at 4670 S. Fort Apache Road. It has hired 15 employees and plans to expand to 25 workers. Michael Simmons is general manager in Las Vegas. The company has 100 employees in all.

Greenspun Corp. of Henderson provided $4 million of the $10 million raised in the last round of private equity financing for TeleSphere. Gary O'Malley, Greenspun senior vice president, serves on the TeleSphere board.

TeleSphere raised another $10 million in a previous round of private equity financing in 2006.

Other investors include Rally Capital, which has managing director Dennis Weibling serving on the board, and Hawkeye Investments, which has President John Chapple serving on the board.

Before joining TeleSphere two years ago, Peterson served as president of U.S. major market operations for Clearwire. He was president of the West region for XO Communications, a competitive local exchange phone company and managed 260 employees. He held management positions at AT&T Wireless Services and McCaw Cellular Communications.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0420.