Arlington, Va. (July 21, 2014)—The Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) and the Foundation for Rural Education and Development (FRED) are pleased to announce that the two organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding indicating intent to merge. FRED is the…
What has been in the works for a couple of years is now official, with the announcement that NTCA and OPASTCO have united to form one single organization to be named NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association. The two rural…
The 49th annual OPASTCO Summer Convention took place this week in Minneapolis. OPASTCO is a Washington D.C. based trade association, representing the interests of small, rural telecom providers. As to be expected, much of the meeting focused on the ongoing…
Four rural telco associations last week filed an application for review and petition for stay of new caps on Universal Service support. The caps, adopted several weeks ago by the FCC’s wireline competition bureau, have come under fire because of…
Add CoBank to the growing list of individuals and entities that have spoken out in opposition to the FCC’s recently imposed plan for capping Universal Service funding received by small rate of return carriers. In a letter sent to the…
Three organizations representing small rural telcos late last week filed a petition for reconsideration and clarification with the Federal Communications Commission on various aspects of the Universal Service and inter-carrier compensation reform order adopted late last year. Signing the petition…
The two leading trade associations representing the interests of rural and independent telcos have decided to launch the Rural Telecom Industry Meeting & EXPO. Beginning in February 2013, the two trade associations will bring their respective memberships to Orlando for…
In an address at the OPASTCO conference in Seattle today, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski attempted to justify the Universal Service reforms proposed in the National Broadband Plan issued in March. Small carriers that receive Universal Service funding, such as those…
When discussing broadband speeds, the recently released national broadband plan could be perceived to be setting two separate bars. Beyond the so called ‘100 Squared’ initiative, which calls for 100 Mbp/s to 100 million homes, the plan also discusses the…
I feel compelled to start this post by pointing out today’s date, April 12th. More specifically, it’s not April 1st. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and OPASTCO have announced a strategic…
It’s been talked about for years, maybe decades, and it’s apparently coming true. NTCA and OPASTCO, the two leading trade associations for small, rural telcos have announced a merger. “Our boards of directors have decided it’s time,” says a press…
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