With federal money for broadband deployment set at unprecedented levels, a grasp (finally!) from policymakers on how essential broadband connectivity is, and with so many Americans in rural America still waiting for service, NTCA continues our focus on the value of partnerships. Collaboration between our community-based providers is a key part of the digital divide solution.
That is why Laura Withers, our vice president of strategic communications, and I were so excited to pull together some of our partners in the rural space – the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), and the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation - to cohost a webinar earlier this week on the power of partnerships. I could not have been more pleased that each of the CEOs I reached out to from these organizations were so game to be at the table with us. Partnerships starting at our level are critical if we hope to be a catalyst for connecting the folks we work with and represent.
Years ago, we gave this a try and hosted a rural utilities summit in the Washington, D.C., area highlighting what it might take to get some of these conversations started. While it was just baby steps forward, we did get a few folks talking outside of the room and doing some business together. Our other take away from that summit was the creation of our “Partners in Broadband” version of a Match.com, designed to connect individuals with a need for broadband to providers who were interested in providing it. We were likely a little bit ahead of our time on the “swipe right or swipe left” concept but, nonetheless, our heart was there.
In a few years and we started to see a number of interesting partnerships between our members and other telcos, local governments, and electric coops, to name a few. The best part is that no one arrangement looks exactly like the next and though the variety is vast, the one thing they have in common is a goal to bring robust services to more Americans.
Fast forward to 2022 and here we are on the cusp of the greatest distribution of public funding for broadband deployment in my lifetime and the opportunity to connect all Americans to high-speed internet no matter where they live. At the same time, it is more important than ever for providers to think creatively about how they can work with their communities and one another to get the job done. In my opinion, that will mean exploring more partnerships, especially with like-minded entities.
The webinar this week highlighted just a few options for folks to be thinking about. Blake McNew with Appalachian Electric Cooperative partnered with a coalition of NTCA members: Twin Lakes (Gainesboro, Tenn.), DTC Communications (Alexandria, Tenn.), and Highland Telephone Cooperative (Sunbright, Tenn.) to deploy Trilight Broadband. Kurt Gruendling with Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom (Waitsfield, Vt.) worked with NRTC and several Communications Union Districts to serve customers near the Mad River Valley, and we had the opportunity to hear how roles and responsibilities were determined, revenue allocations made and even how emergency restoration was handled. Hopefully these discussions kicked open a few doors for those starting to ponder who they might work with to share costs and risks and fill in the voids left by larger carriers in their rural markets.
I know this discussion was one of many more to be held in the future as we continue to share the stories of success and why there is more than one way to skin a cat!