By Joan Engebretson
A great example of how broadband can help attract companies to rural areas comes from Wapakoneta, Ohio, where high-speed fiber broadband from local service provider TSC helped attract Pratt Industries, a company headquartered in Australia that has been building recycled paper mills and box factories in the U.S. The Pratt Industries facility is expected to bring about 500 jobs to the community and caught the attention of President Trump, who was on hand for the facility opening on September 22.
TSC, originally known as Telephone Service Company and now owned by Hanson Communications, can trace its roots back over 100 years, to when it first began offering phone service in rural Wapakoneta. The town of 10,000 is located just off I-75 about 45 miles north of Dayton. Among other things, it’s where astronaut Neil Armstrong grew up and home of the Armstrong Air & Space Museum.
Wapakoneta is also home to several hundred acres of job-ready sites, which as TSC Chief Operating Officer Lonnie Pedersen explains, are “beyond shovel-ready.” A railroad spur comes into the area and the sites have easy access to electricity, gas, and broadband.
“With Pratt, we had to provide geographically diverse fiber to two different internet points of presence,” Pederson notes, adding that TSC was easily able to meet those requirements by using the Com Net statewide fiber network owned by a group of independent local telcos. The Pratt facility will operate 24 hours a day and cannot afford to be out of service, Pedersen explains.
TSC also stepped up to bring additional communications capability to the Pratt facility when plans were put in place for President Trump and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to attend the opening celebration.
“First the White House called and wanted five phone lines and five separate broadband connections; then the press corps called and wanted five phone lines and broadband,” observes Pedersen.
The people in charge of White House communications were so pleased with TSC’s work on that project, they issued a certificate of appreciation to TSC.
“They said we were one of the best companies they ever worked with,” comments Pedersen.
As President Trump notes in a video from the Pratt Industries opening ceremony, “There has never been a better time to hire, invest, build and grow in the United States of America.”
Companies such as TSC and other members of NTCA are helping to attract companies that want to do just that.