JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI - A Mississippi telephone company that ran afoul of state regulators for misleading sales pitches has received approval to provide local phone and other services in Georgia, Louisiana and Florida. <br>
<br>
Flowood-based eXpeTel Communications said Thursday it's been approved to do business by the public service commissions in those states. <br>
<br>
EXpeTel already operates in Alabama and Mississippi. <br>
<br>
Executive vice president Ted Parsons said the expansion is on track with the company's growth plan to provide competitive local, long distance and data services to both consumer and business customers within the BellSouth operating territory. <br>
<br>
Parsons said the company hopes to receive approval from regulators in North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee by year's end. <br>
<br>
EXpeTel operates through an interconnection agreement with BellSouth, its primary competitor, and piggybacks its service on the Bell company's lines. The arrangement is allowed because of changes six years ago in federal telecommunications laws. <br>
<br>
BellSouth has claimed eXpeTel misled consumers into thinking the two companies were the same.
