For Immediate Release
Contact: Carolyn Just, 703-351-2015, [email protected]
Denver, Colo. (September 23, 2019)—NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association, the premier national association representing nearly 850 independent, community-based telecommunications companies, today recognized 11 companies in rural areas of the United States that have earned Smart Rural Communities Showcase Awards as part of the association’s campaign to recognize projects that enhance quality of life in small towns using robust broadband networks. With the announcement of these 11 new award winners today, NTCA will have honored more than 80 rural broadband providers as Showcase Awardees since the program launched in 2013.
The goal of the NTCA Smart Rural Communities program is to celebrate the commitment of rural broadband providers and forward-thinking community members to drive growth and create opportunities within their communities. Smart Rural Communities provides educational programming, gig-speed certification, a brand platform for rural communities and their telecom providers, matching grant resources and the Showcase Awards to recognize top-performing communities.
The following broadband providers received national recognition:
• Arvig (Pelican Rapids, Minn.)
• Bulloch Telephone Cooperative (Statesboro, Ga.)
• Chariton Valley (Macon, Mo.)
• Green Hills Communications (Breckenridge, Mo.)
• GRM Networks (Princeton, Mo.)
• Kalona Cooperative Technology Company (Kalona, Iowa)
• KanOkla Networks (Caldwell, Kan.)
• Lynxx Networks (Camp Douglas, Wis.)
• Mountain Telephone (West Liberty, Ky.)
• RTC Communications (Montgomery, Ind.)
• Wilkes Communications (Wilkes County, N.C.)
NTCA Smart Rural Communities Showcase award recipients were recognized at the NTCA 2019 Fall Conference, a gathering of more than 1,400 rural telecom leaders in Denver. In addition to receiving national and local recognition for their extraordinary efforts, the award recipients will join a growing network of communities building a brighter future for small town America by promoting rural broadband and its role in supporting innovative economic development, effective education, efficient energy distribution and use, state-of-the-art health care and other important issues for rural America.
For more information about the initiative, visit www.ntca.org/smart.
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