Contact: Lauren Gaydos, 703-351-2015
Arlington, Va., (February 24, 2021)—NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield announced the winners of the 2020 Smart Rural CommunitySM (SRC) Showcase Awards:
• Hill Country Telephone Cooperative (HCTC) in Ingram, Tex.
• Jefferson Telecom in Jefferson, Iowa
• LightStream in Buffalo, Ind., and
• Mountain Telephone in West Liberty, Ky.
The Smart Rural Community program is a network of communities supported by NTCA members who are committed to driving growth and creating opportunities through robust broadband service. The Smart Rural Community Showcase Awards are annual awards presented to SRC providers to recognize their extraordinary achievements in promoting rural broadband networks and their broadband-enabled applications in rural communities. Telcos are awarded based on their ability to demonstrate the use of these technologies to enable innovative solutions to improve economic development, education, health care and other vital services.
“As we all grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic last year, our SRC members led the charge to ensure that their communities stayed connected during this crucial time,” said Bloomfield. “The 2020 Showcase Award Winners are truly the best of the best and went above and beyond to serve their communities. I want to congratulate HCTC, Jefferson, LightStream and Mountain Telephone for winning the 2020 Showcase Awards, and to thank them for the work they have done to keep small-town America connected.”
The 2020 Showcase Award Winners were announced at the 2021 RTIME Online conference. Watch the announcement video:
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NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is the premier association representing nearly 850 independent, community-based telecommunications companies that are leading innovative change in smart rural communities across America. In an era of transformative technological developments, regulatory challenges and marketplace competition, NTCA members are advancing efforts to close the digital divide by delivering robust and high-quality services over future-proof networks. Their commitment to building sustainable networks makes rural communities fertile ground for innovation in economic development, e-commerce, health care, agriculture and education, and it contributes billions of dollars to the U.S. economy each year. Visit us at www.ntca.org.