Monroeville-based Curry filed Saturday for protection from creditors under Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy code. Court documents list $159,303 owed to unsecured creditors.
John Curry, the founder and president, said Monday that Curry Communications closed about three years ago, but a voice-over Internet protocol phone and broadband service known as Curry IP Solutions remains in business. He declined to give other details. Curry founded the business 12 years ago as hundreds of competitive local exchange carriers were starting business.
The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 gave competing phone companies the ability to offer service inside the territories of traditional phone companies such as Verizon Communications Inc., then Bell Atlantic. Curry, a former AT&T and Verizon employee, bought service from the incumbent phone company at wholesale rates, then resold it at discount to business and residential customers.
Curry switched his business in 2005 to a VoIP service, as that technology was getting started. He asked the state Public Utility Commission in 2006 for permission to disconnect and migrate customers elsewhere, PUC spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said.
Customers were transferred to Line Systems Inc. of Philadelphia, another competitive carrier with residential and business customers in four states, Kocher said.
The PUC doesn't track or regulate VoIP carriers. The Curry IP Solutions Web site advertises calling plans starting at $9.99 a month, and high-speed Internet starting at $55.
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