Quincy’s Granite Telecommunications to double workforce

Granite Telecommunications, specializing in providing telecommunication, data, and networking services to 10 of the largest retail companies in the county and 81 of the Fortune 200 companies, announced on Monday that they plan to double their workforce of 1200 over the next five years and were in the process of expanding to and opening a new building. Rand Currier, the chief operating officer for Granite, said the new 125,000 square foot space located at 150 Newport Ave Extension would house the company’s growing business, and would be LEED certified within a year.

Rand said the company was courted by several cities, states, even countries alongside their expansion plans, but that the city of Quincy made staying worthwhile. Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch (pictured) said he was proud of the company, not only in their corporate successes, but in their charitable work.

Many of Granite’s 1200 employees attended the ribbon cutting ceremony, listening to Rob Hale, chief executive officer at Granite, detail the company’s history and success. Granite has gone from a company of 17 employees in 2002, to 1200 employees presently, moving from renting out a formal bridal fitting salon to launching innovations and ideas in two buildings in North Quincy. All this was done without any debt, Hale said, and without any private investment.

“I had aspiration of being successful and I was confident we’d be successful. To say I thought we would get to this level is misleading. The successes we’ve had have been jawdropping,’’ Hale said. Alongside a growth in employees, Hale said the company is expanding as well. In addition to compiling and providing packages of services based off other retailers, Granite is developing and expanding their own services to provide to their clients. “We’re investing millions to leap frog from wholesale into actually controlling and carrying the calls on our own network,’’ Hale said.

Granite University, a one-year-old company venture, will expand with the new location. Half a floor will be dedicated to the school, which teaches employees the terms and background behind the company’s model to better educate potential clients.

Hale credited his company’s successes first and foremost to legislation passed by Senator Ed Markey in 1996. The Telecommunications Act disbanded monopolies on communication services, and allowed anyone to come into the market and provide competition. Hale gives Markey a hug on the stage.

Markey pointed to Granite as the “quintessential Massachusetts success story,’’ adding that the company captured the essence of competition. “We’re the brain state. This is what we do … how we work smarter and not harder,’’ he said.

“You have to change the laws, take on the monopolies,’’ Markey said of his 1996 Telecommunications Act, which broke down the barriers not only for Granite, but for Google, Twitter, YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, and more.

“The goal was to create hundreds of companies where there were only a small handful. Granite is a quintessential example of what can happen. 1200 employees in 10 years with many more to be added in years ahead,’’ Markey said.

Hale, Koch, and Markey cut the ribbon to the new building. The new space will create a campus-like environment for the Quincy-based company, which already houses space in a building next door.

Already there are 100 job openings at Granite, Hale said.

(From left) Geoffrey Why, MA Telecom & Cable Commissioner; Angela Kronenberg, Former FCC Staffer, current Comptel General Counsel; Markey; Hale, Koch; and Robert McDowell, Former FCC Commissioner pose for a photo after the ribbon cutting.