Tennessee Telecom Association

Archives for March 2017

TTA Publishes Brochure Outlining Impact of Rural Broadband

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In an effort to cohesively tell the story of how TTA members are making a difference in the state, the Tennessee Telecommunications Association has published a new brochure. The document outlines the impact TTA members collectively have on the state’s economy along with stories showing how rural broadband improves the quality of life for Tennesseans.

The TTA, according to the brochure, is “comprised of independent and cooperatively owned companies that deliver critical services to almost 30 percent of the state.” Economic highlights include:

  • TTA members have $386,861,464 in combined revenue.
  • 902 people are employed locally by TTA member companies.
  • 352,878 total homes and businesses in Tennessee have access to telecom services through TTA members.
  • TTA members serve 13,330 square miles of the state.
  • The brochure features stories of Tennessee residents who are benefiting from broadband service in the areas of business, education, community and health care.

“This brochure is packed with information about the many ways our members are making life better for Tennesseans, particularly those in the rural regions of our state,” says TTA Executive Director Levoy Knowles. To order copies of the printed publication, contact Knowles at [email protected]. To download a PDF of the brochure, click here.

Landing Page Focuses on Rural Broadband Messaging

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TTA has been working with strategic partners Cooley Public Strategies to generate media coverage of the association’s positions and promote its message among state lawmakers. As part of those efforts, the TTA is pushing a new landing page on its website to promote the story of rural broadband.

The landing page can be found at www.tenntel.org/ruralbroadband.

“We support the governor’s call to cover unserved rural areas,” reads the landing page underneath the header “TTA members bridging the digital divide.”

Plans are to update the landing page with current messaging as bills that will alter laws governing broadband deployment move through the state legislature.

“We need our TTA members to share this landing page on their websites and social media channels,” says TTA Executive Director Levoy Knowles. “Let’s work together to get the word out that no one connects rural Tennesseans to high-speed broadband better than Tennessee’s local telecom companies. We are closing the broadband gap.”

 

From The Executive Director – March 20, 2017

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In the past few newsletters, you’ve read about the governor’s broadband initiative and how it is leaning heavily on electric cooperatives to deploy broadband in much of rural Tennessee.

That’s something I’ve given a great deal of thought to in recent weeks, and I’ve come to the conclusion that telcos and rural electric providers are not as different as we may like to think. Furthermore, starting with those similarities and then building on our individual strengths, I believe it’s going to become increasingly important to develop strong relationships and solid partnerships with our neighbors in the electric business.

At the end of the day, we do have much in common. We are experts in our respective fields and are responsible for tackling the most rugged, rural areas in our great state in order to bring service to our customers. We are all small and independent companies in industries often dominated by billion-dollar corporations.

In most cases, telcos and electrics are both pillars in the communities they serve, investing millions of dollars into infrastructure, hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economies through the jobs we create, and thousands of dollars in sponsorships, donations, scholarships and other support.

Many telephone cooperatives even got their start at local electric offices and through the REA.

During my time at Ben Lomand Connect, we had good relationships and open communication with several of the electric providers in our service area, including Caney Fork, Duck River, Sequachee Valley Electric and others. If you don’t have open communication with nearby electric providers, I urge you to start having those conversations.

I recently heard some good advice from a GM at a telco in another state. He and his team have successfully navigated partnerships with electric cooperatives. In two of the partnerships, the electric cooperative and the telco — and, ultimately, the customers — enjoyed great results all the way around. Their other partnership didn’t turn out that way. He said that in the end it essentially came down to mission statements. In the partnerships that worked well, the electric cooperatives and the telco had similar mission statements that governed their company culture and helped inform leadership decisions. In the partnership that didn’t work out as well, the differences in the mission statements of the companies should have been a dead giveaway that they weren’t going to be compatible.  

Does your mission statement permeate your company? At every level, everyone in your company should understand why you’re doing what you do. Your mission statement should be your company’s guiding light.

I hope everyone will take a moment this week to read your company’s mission statement. In this time of change, I firmly believe it’s a good idea to remind ourselves of what we’re all about. That mission should help guide your everyday decisions — and help prepare you for potential partnership opportunities that may be just over the horizon.

TTA Website Gets New Look

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As the Tennessee Telecommunications Association works to raise awareness of its efforts among elected officials and the media, the group recently updated its website to reflect its focus.

“Working with WordSouth, one of our strategic partners, we have redesigned our website with a fresh, bold look,” says TTA Executive Director Levoy Knowles. “Our website is central to all of our communications efforts, so it was important for it to present a cohesive image with the work we are doing with Cooley Public Strategies to push our message in the capital and across the state.”

The website can be found at www.tenntel.org. Knowles encourages all TTA members to review the new site and to promote it among their employees and customers.

 

Broadband Bill Moving Forward With Input From TTA

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When TTA members visited the Capitol last month, legislators were paying close attention to the governor’s Broadband Accessibility Act. Now, that bill has passed through the first round of committees and appears on track for a vote on the House and Senate floors.

On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee unanimously recommended the bill (HB 0529 and SB 1215 ) for passage.

And thanks to input from TTA and member companies, the bill the committee recommended is an amended bill that, overall, most TTA members will likely be pleased with.

“It’s a well-balanced bill,” says TTA Executive Director Levoy Knowles. “It helps people in areas of the state where TTA members don’t serve; it provides some opportunities for growth and new partnerships; and it puts a fence around municipals that prevents unfair competition.”

The initial version of the bill put much of the broadband expansion attention on electric cooperatives, and the amended version still supports this notion. The amendment, however, which was supported by TTA and several larger telecommunications companies in the state, defines some important limits for the electric providers. For instance, under the amendment, electric cooperatives may not provide broadband outside of their service footprint and would be required to give telcos unrestricted access to poles if the electrics get into the broadband business. The amendment also requires electric cooperatives to create a subsidiary to handle the broadband in order to better track funds.

Many of these issues were discussed when more than a dozen TTA member company representatives converged on the legislative plaza for the annual TTA Day On The Hill on Feb. 12. The TTA delegation met with lawmakers to discuss the pending legislation and other issues.

“Meetings like those during the Day On The Hill are so important to TTA’s legislative work,” Knowles says. “Our representatives need our input to make these important decisions.”

Unchanged in the Broadband Accessibility Act are the governor’s plans for a $30 million incentive grant program for any company who commits to build out a broadband network to residents of the state who cannot currently receive download speeds of 10 Mbps. To apply for the grants, which award $10 million for three years, providers must commit to serving these new customers with speeds of at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload.

The bill also creates tax incentives of up to $5 million per year for three years for companies expanding broadband networks. If it’s passed, providers would be able to apply six percent of the cost of equipment purchased for certain economically depressed counties to their franchise and excise tax.

After passing through the House Business and Utilities subcommittee last week, the bill was slated for a vote in the House Committee on Wednesday, but it was postponed a week due to the president’s visit to Nashville. The next action is scheduled for a vote in the House Business and Utilities Committee on March 22.

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