I have a confession: The first time I met Jim Dahmen, I thought he might have been celebrating happy hour on some European time zone. It was only mid-afternoon, but he was talking about Columbus Telephone and the fact that its network was soon to be 100% fiber. One hundred percent? As a reporter covering telecom, it's not unusual to see large fiber-to-the-premises deployments, particularly in new housing developments. A thousand homes here, a few hundred homes there is almost passé, but 100% coverage, even if it's a 2-square mile speck on the Kansas plains, is something totally different.

Upon arriving in Columbus, Kan., it's hard to ignore the impact the company is trying to have on the community. The signs leading into town proclaim it a “100% fiber-optic community.” The emphasis, as you'll see in our cover story (on page 18) is on community and not necessarily the technology.

Like many independent telco executives, Dahmen believes that a community's network infrastructure is an integral part of the economic engine. He's right, and it's a philosophy that many seem to be adopting fast.

One of the central themes I hear talking to independent telcos, particularly in rural markets, is the struggle to keep kids from leaving town after they finish their education and begin adulthood. Small towns everywhere must fight against not only the natural call of the big cities, but the economic opportunities they afford the young and the bright.

One of the ways telcos have responded to the challenge is by creating telecom infrastructure that allows its citizens — and perhaps more important, potential employers — to connect to the outside world at the highest possible speed. As much as small-town proponents like to point to a better quality of life, lower real-estate costs and often short commutes to the workplace, that lifestyle also must come with access to similar services as are available in urban markets. Dahmen is doing his part.

Also, be sure to check out Carol Wilson's story, beginning on page 24, which tackles the prickly issue of how to train an employee base steeped in telephone knowledge to install and maintain an IP video network.