A servco is the retail-facing half of a split telecommunications provider, handling billing, marketing, and customer support. It is structurally separated from the netco, which owns and maintains the physical infrastructure. This separation is often mandated by regulators to ensure fair competition, forcing the servco to lease lines from the netco on the same terms as third-party providers.
We finished the fiber drop to the premises, but you have to call the servco to actually get the account provisioned and turned up.
In deregulated markets, field technicians working for the netco are strictly forbidden from discussing servco pricing or retail packages with the end customer.
Do not mix it up with
- Netco: The netco builds and maintains the physical network, while the servco handles the customers and billing.
Related terms
Netco
The division or spinoff of a telecommunications company that owns and operates the physical network infrastructure.
ILEC
The established regional telephone company that owned the original copper wire monopoly before market deregulation.
CLEC
A competitive local exchange carrier is a telecom provider competing with the established regional telephone company.