In the beginning, as the 432nd-largest long distance company in the United States, it began selling franchises through the business model of Network Marketing or Multi-level marketing (MLM). In seven years, it became the fourth-largest long distance carrier in America and the youngest billion-dollar-annual company in history (8 years as compared to the second fastest growing, Microsoft, which took 15 years). In 1996, Excel became the youngest company ever to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 1998, Excel merged with Teleglobe.
Troutt retired as CEO in 1999, to be replaced by Christina Gold.
By 2002, Excel had entered the local phone service market more aggressively than smaller competitors such as MCI's Neighborhood.