Cogent Communications Group Inc. / CCOI

About Cogent Communications Group Inc.

1015 31st St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20007
www.cogentco.com | 202-295-4200 | Founded: 1999

Industry: Telecommunications | Category: Top 100 Companies

From its inception, Cogent's business has been simple: Sell only data connectivity, not telephone service or other services that are complicated to deliver, and sell it at a rate much lower than its competition does.
The company is trying to do low-margin, high-volume business. To that end, in the past year the Georgetown-based company has nearly doubled its sales force, expanded its operations in Europe and raised $69 million in additional capital through a public offering.
The success of Cogent's business model depends on increasing its customer base quickly and efficiently. It typically works this way: Cogent connects office buildings to its own fiber-optic network, then sells Internet service to small and medium-size businesses in those buildings for $10 per megabit per month. (A typical office of 30 people would need about $1,000 of service monthly.) It now has 10,000 business customers.
Cogent has acquired many failed companies, including PSINet Inc., formerly of Ashburn.
Yet Cogent has yet to turn a profit. Its revenue has been increasing, however: In 2005, it totaled $135.2 million, up from $91.3 million in the previous year.
The company plans to expand its sales division again this year.
After four years on the American Stock Exchange, Cogent's stock is now listed on the Nasdaq National Market.

2007 Financial Data

Total employees: 330 | Local employees: 148