NTCA: Start-ups target rural indoor market
By: By Tim McElligott
ORLANDO--Two start-ups, Home Phone Tunes and iControl Networks, were among the newcomers to the show floor at the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association’s annual meeting this year...
NTCA: McDowell tells rural providers, ‘Go wireless’
By: By Tim McElligott
In his first formal presentation to an industry association, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell gave the following advice to members of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association at the group’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.: Take advantage of the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction to arm yourself for the future...
Cisco inks key rural IPTV deal
By: By Ed Gubbins
Cisco Systems is vying to become a one-stop shop for rural telcos planning to offer IPTV. The vendor announced a partnership this week with SES Americom,...
Rural wireless: It could go either way
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Rural wireless operators just might have a big year in 2007. The again, they might not. That’s not vacillation, it’s just that the year is full of potential but depending on several factors, it could go either way...
CenturyTel up the river with a paddle
By: By Tim McElligott
Rural telco consolidation continues with CenturyTel’s buy of two rivers: Madison and Gallatin...
Investors take over Sage Telecom
By: By Tim McElligott
Silver Point Capital will acquire Sage Telecom next quarter and has contracted with CXO LLC, a Dallas-based management and advisory services firm, to oversee operations during the transition...
Rose to OPASTCO: Be Disney
By: By Tim McElligott
Despite its ranks swelling by 1.5 million lines with the proposed acquisition by FairPoint Communications of Verizon customers, rural telcos attending...
Microsoft makes overtures to rural market
By: By Tim McElligott
Orlando. Microsoft’s general manager of the communications sector at Microsoft, Harry Patz, addressed approximately 600 members of the rural service provider community today at the OPASTCO Winter Meeting with a singular message: We want to partner with you....
Soma wins 700 MHz contract
By: By Kevin Fitchard
Soma Networks today said it has made one of its first sales of 700 MHz broadband wireless equipment, selling its FlexMAX system to CTC Telecom in Wisconsin to deploy in hard-to-reach and rural areas...
Verizon spins off local lines in three states
By: By Carol Wilson
Verizon announced this morning it is spinning off its local lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to its shareholders and will merge that spin-off into FairPoint Communications, a North Carolina-based conglomerate of rural local exchange carriers...
Shepards and Harveys to sell Hargray Communications
By: By Tim McElligott
They still have a two- to three-month review period to complete, but the board of directors of Hargray Communications Group has agreed in principal with Morningstar Management and Quadrangle Capital Partners to sell the company...
Embarq, AT&T: Access line loss stabilizing
By: By Carol Wilson
Two major telephone companies are once again saying that access line loss is slowing. The same comments were made in November when third quarter results were announced, but many industry analysts were skeptical, given the sharp rise in cable VoIP and service bundle choices...
PrairieWave gets consolidated
By: By Tim McElligott
West Point, Ga.-based broadband services provider Knology will pay approximately $255 million to consummate a merger with PrairieWave Communications in Sioux Falls, S.D....
GCI closes Alaska DigiTel investment
By: By Tim McElligott
General Communication Inc. announced late yesterday the close of an agreement to invest $29.5 million in wireless provider Alaska DigiTel on Jan 1. The investment could help AKD meet the needs of Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, who said last month he wants to blanket his city with wireless Internet...
VeriSign signals to One Communications
By: By Tim McElligott
One of the fastest growing competitive local exchange carriers in the country, One Communications, has turned to VeriSign to be its premier provider of signaling and database services for its voice network....
CenturyTel enters new markets with Madison River acquisition
By: By Tim McElligott
Monroe, Louis.-based CenturyTel announced its intent today to acquired Madison River Communications for $830 million. The deal would add 176,000 access lines throughout Alabama, Georgia, Illinois and North Carolina...
Utah’s multicity FTTH project enters phase two
By: By Ed Gubbins
After several months of delays, Utah’s multicity municipal wholesale fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, Utopia, is now entering its second phase of construction, according to Paul Morris, Utopia’s executive director...
In the Spotlight: Scott Ulsaker, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative
By: By Dan O'Shea
Scott Ulsaker, director of operations at Pioneer, is an old hand at wireless, having worked on AT&T’s Project Angel fixed wireless endeavor. He spoke with Telephony editor in chief Dan O’Shea recently about using Wi-Fi for in-home wiring...
A tale of two independents
By: By Tim McElligott
They are two Tier 1 independent wireline phone companies 400 miles apart in the heart of the Midwest. Both were spun off from their wireless parents in...
Sonus certifiable in rural markets
By: By Tim McElligott
Sonus Networks isn’t a stranger to the rural market, but its status is. The company was bestowed with Rural Utilities Service/Rural Development Utilities Program RUS/RDUP acceptance for much of its core IMS-based product line...
Hawaiian Telcom struggles for independence
By: By Ed Gubbins
Hawaiian Telcom’s revenue grew and its net loss shrank in the third quarter, but the former Verizon subsidiary admitted it is struggling with efforts to adjust to life as a standalone company...
Windstream rejects wireless, targets broadband
By: By Tim McElligott
After strong consideration, Windstream, formerly Alltel’s wireline business, decided against pursuing a wireless resale service offering and said during its third-quarter earnings report today that it would instead concentrate on creating bundled packages that include broadband and digital TV...
Baker bumps Iowa Telecom earnings
By: By Tim McElligott
Iowa Telecom was a model of consistency this week as it reported third-quarter results that included a 3% bump in revenue thanks in part to the company’s acquisition of Baker Communications in August...
TelcoTV: Eatel deploys Integra5
By: By Dan O'Shea
DALLAS--Eatel, a private, independent telco based in Ascension Parish, La., has deployed Integra5’s i5 Converged Service Delivery Platform to support TV-based caller ID and other applications from the vendor’s i-Communicate application suite...
CenturyTel beats the street with low Q3 earnings
By: By Tim McElligott
Revenue was down $37.7 million from last year’s third quarter, but Monroe, La.-based CenturyTel beat earnings per share expectations by a nickel...
