Q. You've been through several ownership changes. Has that been difficult?

A. The transition from GTE to Verizon was somewhat transparent because it's a phone-company-to-phone-company type of transition. There were some issues about different types of systems that both companies were using, but as far as operations go, pretty transparent so there wasn't too much of an impact. With the transition from Verizon to Hawaiian Telcom, it was more difficult due to the complex nature of the system migration. From a community and customer perspective, we are now an independent "local" company managed and staffed with folks who live in the community. Unlike the past, where we were a small part of a large national corporation, Hawaiian Telcom is 100 percent focused on Hawai'i. All of our resources are directed to delivering new products and services to the community and customers we serve. Don't get me wrong; being a part of a larger national corporation has its distinct advantages. But realistically speaking, Hawai'i has always been a "small" part of the national portfolio and has historically not received the attention that we deserve. Independence allows for greater flexibility and improves our responsiveness to changing demands in the marketplace.

Q. When you first started there was no competition. How has competition affected your job?

A. Back even 20 years ago the phone company was THE phone company. We were the big boys on the block. Services that we offered were pretty much regulated. But with the development of technologies and new types of services, like wireless and cable companies, a lot of these new services are deregulated so then it opens up the market for competition, which I think is good because back then the thinking was you're the only guys on the block and pretty much you got the market captured. Now you have to be aware and in touch with what the customers want so it forces us to think and develop new strategies about how we serve the customers.

Q. What was your first job at the phone company?

A. I started in 1981 as a mail services clerk and I basically wanted to get a foothold into the company by delivering inter-company mail. I did it for about six months and I moved on to a technical position as a field technician, those guys running around in the trucks going to consumers and small businesses fixing phones and what not. Delivering the mail really gave me exposure to the phone company. I got to meet different people in different departments so I got a good understanding of how the phone company operated.

Q. Was it a difficult transition?

A. The company provided me with technical training and I did a lot of outside courses on my own — basic electricity, basic electronics, electromechanical theory. I was just thinking about it that when I started back as a technician back in 1981, I remember working on telephones. Back then we had dial service and today people just buy these phones for $10 and if it breaks they just throw it away. That's how far the industry has come.

Q. What were your goals back then?

A. After working as a technician for about seven years, you get to know what you need to know and it kind of gets stale, so I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to move inside and a little bit more technical testing. I did that for about three years and at that time we had a big team come in from Dallas, which was the GTE headquarters, and they were doing some service performance audits and they asked me to represent the operations folks in helping them to do this audit. The audit went on for about a year and then to my surprise one of the managers who had come down asked me if I wanted to take a staff position working out of Thousand Oaks, Calif. That was my entry into management. I'm glad I took the job because working as a staff person now, I get to interface with different departments and the whole idea about staff is to set up processes, procedures and practices so I took the staff job and that's how I got into management.

Q. What are your responsibilities?

A. My main focus is to service our customers, both internal and external, residential and business customers. I'm in charge of the field technicians who come out to customers, install services, repair their services. I also have oversight over the construction of the telephone cable plan from our switching centers out on the roadway, on the telephone poles down the manholes and what not. I have oversight primarily of almost all of the outside field technicians. I oversee roughly 250 technicians and supervising managers across the state.

Q. Do you still get out in the field?

A. I like interaction with people so I make it a point to get out and get down to my field techs. Growing up as a field tech I kind of know how they think and how they feel and issues that really impact them. I like to get out and talk to them face to face, find out what's going on. I think opening up lines of communications all the way down to the actual people who do the work, it really gives me a good feel and a good understanding of issues that not only customers have, but my employees.

Q. What are some of your personal challenges?

A. Personally, being a techy person, my biggest challenge is trying to move my field technicians over from a basic two-wire telephone type of operation into the broadband area. Technology is advancing as we speak. What's the hot topic for today is old news tomorrow. So technology is moving on. With research and development and software development, it's easier for the developers to come up with new types of services. What's lagging is the development of people. It's good to have all of this new technology, but you still need to train your base of core installers and repairers to understand the technology first and then be able to install it and be able to troubleshoot it. Trying to catch up with where technology is headed is a challenge. We ... (have to) make sure they understand because once you roll a product out to the market, we gotta be able to deliver.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.