Gene Retske
Editor
The Prepaid Press


Gene Retske is a respected authority on international telecommunications, with over 25 years of experience in all aspects of the industry. He began his career with AT&T’s Southern Bell subsidiary, and rose quickly through the ranks to middle management.

After 20 years with AT&T and the Bell System, he started a interactive voice response system company, designing the first International Callback system using the AT&T Conversant System. He was closely involved with the opening of telecom markets in Europe, and designed and established the first authorized telecom reseller platform in Europe.

His experiences as a pioneer in building and managing international resale operations from “both sides of the desk” led to the writing of the best selling book, The International CallBack Book, An Insider’s View, published by Harry Newton’s Telecom Library. Gene and this first book have been credited with assisting “more telecom startups than Tariff 12”, a reference to the FCC tariff that first permitted telecom resale. In 1995, Gene founded the International Insider, a publishing and trade show company that produced the first independent telecom trade shows in Europe. The International Insider was also known for its reports about the telecom industry, its technology and the companies that are involved in it.  In 1998, he launched TeleCompete, a highly acclaimed international trade magazine devoted exclusively to international telecom resale.

Over the next few years, as the global telecom industry exploded, Gene was widely recognized as one of the foremost experts on international telecommunications competition. He penned articles for magazines from trade magazines, like Teleconnect, Computer Telephony, Phone+, Telecom Business, Intelecard News and Communications Week International, to major consumer magazines like Newsweek. The “Retske Report,” an informational and op ed column, has appeared in several different public publications, and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, Strait Times (Singapore) and the Miami Herald, among others.

The prestigious Economist magazine sponsored Gene as one of its main presenters in Economist IMagazine Telecom summit in Hong Kong, Zürich, Paris and London. He has spoken extensively at trade shows around the world, as presenter, panelist, moderator and keynote speaker. In 2002, a startup publication, The Prepaid Press, asked Gene to help them set editorial direction, design content and act as Editor-In-Chief. As a result of his efforts, TPP has become one of the mostly highly regarded publications in the industry, with circulation up 200%, and advertising sales nearly triple.