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In 1990 Alfred West. a Brooklyn-based importer of European textiles, realized it cost him three times more to call New York from Europe than to call Europe from New York. So he decided to resell U.S. dial tones and thus founded his telecom company, EconoPhone.
Now eight years later, the company has 600 employees in 10 countries with revenues of more than $80 million. In April, the company moved its headquarters to Paramus from Brooklyn to ease the commuting travails of its senior executives, most of whom are New Jersey residents.
The growth of EconoPhone can be traced to diamond merchants in Antwerp, its first customers back in 1990. On a shoestring budget of $12,000 which was invested in a PC and digital voice boards, West developed a call-back system that allowed a European caller to be billed according to U.S. rates. Subsequently, West developed his own call-through system and began buying lines and switches. West sold his textile business in 1996 to become a full U.S....