NTCA premiered its documentary on rural telecom issues Wed. to se...
NTCA premiered its documentary on rural telecom issues Wed. to several dozen congressional staffers and industry representatives on Capitol Hill. The movie, Connecting Rural America: Community-Based Telecom Providers Answer the Call, gave a brief history of rural telephony and…
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lightly delved into several rural telecom issues. The 30-minute film, produced by NTCA’s Foundation for Rural Service, highlighted cases in which local telecom providers had met the needs of their rural customer base. The film recounted the work of Venture Communications Cooperative, in Highmore, S.D., which provided communications for Vice President Cheney at his “undisclosed location.” Venture employees said they were able to install 25 phone lines, several ISDN video lines and other telecom equipment at a S.D. hunting lodge where Cheney stayed in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. The company said the network was installed “in a matter of days.” Also highlighted was the work of the Penasco Valley Telecom cooperative in southern N.M., which used unlicensed spectrum to provide broadband service to a rural cattle farm. The service was used primarily to home school a teenager unable to travel to the nearest school an hour away. The film ended by saying that the FCC and Congress must protect the universal service fund if rural service was to continue.