April 1999 
 

Minnesota and advanced telecommunications technology . . . already well-connected

When it comes to advanced telecommunications technology, there's a phrase that aptly describes Minnesota's situation - already well-connected. Minnesota's fully digital telecommunications network includes one of the world's largest continuous fiber optic cable networks, built by many of the state's 90+ small independent telephone companies. Add this to the facilities of the state's four largest telecommunications companies - U S WEST, Sprint, GTE, and Frontier Communications - and the fiber optic infrastructure delivers state-of-the-industry telecommunication services to every Minnesota county including more than 2.8 million customer lines.

The Importance of "High-Tech"

"This industry has advanced tremendously in the last 60 years," said Michael Nowick, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Minnesota Telephone Association. "It's gone from crank phones to dial to push-button, wireless and much more. An appropriate comparison would be moving from gravel roads to paved streets to six-lane interstates. The advances allow people to communicate better, faster and more extensively than ever before."

High-Tech also means jobs, especially outside large cities. The many IBM and Mayo employees who live in Pine Island Telephone Company's service area, for example, think nothing of sending and receiving large data files between home and work. And one business would not have opened a branch office in Pine Island without high-tech availability. "Had we not had cost-effective high-tech capability," explains Richard Keane, Pine Island's General Manager, "many good jobs would have gone elsewhere and we wouldn't have filled a downtown office."

Every Company Involved

Every company does its high-tech part in Minnesota's increasingly competitive telecommunications marketplace. For example, U S WEST, the state's largest provider, has invested nearly $2 billion since 1990 in capital construction in Minnesota (an average of $18 million a month). It modernized vital central switches in 88 rural locations and built a fiber optic backbone for Duluth and the Iron Range. And it provides sophisticated telemedicine applications that deliver effective health care to rural areas, motivating patients to continue using rural hospitals and clinics.

As a whole, Minnesota telecommunication providers spent over $320 million upgrading network facilities last year. These technological advances benefit consumers - over 80 percent of Minnesotans now have access to the Internet with a local call and there are 23 public videoconferencing centers located around the state.

Independents Lead the Way

The state's 90+ locally-operated small telephone companies - whose 300,000-plus access lines comprise about 12 percent of the state total - have not been left behind in the high-tech arena. In fact, these cooperatives and family-owned and investor-owned companies, which serve more than 300 Greater Minnesota communities and over half the state's geographic area, have led the way, according to Gene South, CEO and General Manager of Lakedale Telephone Company. "Small Minnesota independents have taken the lead for years in providing the latest in technology and services," he says. "Our efforts are head and shoulders above those of our counterparts in many states."

Lakedale, headquartered in Annandale, a community without a traffic signal, represents Minnesota's small independent telcos well. It was the first company in the state to offer Caller ID. The company has digital central offices, connecting the six communities it serves with fiber optic cable and digital switches. "We offer the latest services and the newest technologies" to our customers, says South, including high-speed data and video services from narrow to broadband. "We have built our on-ramp to the information superhighway.

Walt Clay, Chair, President, and CEO of Hutchinson Telephone Company, talks about his company's high-tech efforts this way: "In cooperation with our associates, we have a fiber optic connection to downtown Minneapolis that connects to the whole state. We have a fiber connection to St. Cloud that extends past Northern Minnesota to Canada, plus connections to the county seats of Litchfield and Glencoe. We also have connections to Dassel, Cokato and Darwin in addition to what we have in Hutchinson. Minnesota's independent telcos currently provide voice, video and data to 90 percent of the state's schools and libraries."

Another small independent "ahead of or right in step with larger metropolitan areas," according to COO Dean Mohs, is Melrose Telephone Company. "We take great pride in the high-tech, high quality services we provide our customers," he says. "We continually upgrade and enhance our services and technology because it's essential for preserving the heart and soul of our communities."

The Learning Network

Interactive distance learning is happening now in Minnesota and is available to most students. The Learning Network of Minnesota, an initiative built by a public-private partnership that includes U S WEST, MEANS Telcom and MNet, deploys enhanced telecommunications services to schools and libraries throughout the state. One example is the Southeast Services Cooperative, one of 15 distance learning networks provided by U S WEST that connects 38 public school districts in southeast Minnesota.

As a result of the Learning Network, vast portions of Minnesota can benefit from advanced, high-speed data services such as Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and ISDN. The Learning Network expanded Minnesota's videoconferencing capabilities, adding to the public capacity built earlier by the state's telecommunication companies. More than a resource for the state's educational institutions, the Learning Network also offers advantages for Minnesota businesses that rely increasingly on advanced communication services.

A history of service, a future of opportunities

Minnesota's telcos have been meeting their customers' high-tech needs for many years. They will continue to do so, providing the state with some of the best telecommunication services found anywhere in the world. When it comes to advanced services in Minnesota, the phrase "well-connected" will remain synonymous with private telecommunications providers and their customers.

The Survey Says . . .

The Minnesota Telephone Association (MTA) and the Minnesota Association for Rural Telecommunications (MART) conducted a survey of Minnesota's telcos recently. Of those that responded:

u Almost 100% of telcos' central switches are digital;

u Telcos have installed almost 20,000 miles of advanced fiber optic cable between cities and for local use;

u 90% reported that all customers have access to CLASS (Caller ID, etc.) services;

u 65% said that all customers have access to Frame Relay;

u Almost 40% reported that all customers have access to Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN; the remaining 60% said that more than 60% of their customers have such access).

The state's telco industry makes significant contributions to Minnesota's economy. The industry's capital investment tops $300 million each year. Annual payroll approaches $300 million. Companies pay approximately $175 million in taxes, and make contributions in the millions to economic development and charitable causes in their service areas.

PROFILE: Park Region Mutual Telephone Co.

In 1906, 11 small phone companies near Fergus Falls formed the Park Region Mutual Telephone Company, an Underwood-based cooperative that continues to return a portion of profits to its shareholder members every year. Today's company serves about 4,400 customers in a 600-square mile area that also includes Maine, Dalton, Ashby, Erhard and Vining. (The company also serves 865 Browns Valley customers through the recently acquired Valley Telephone Company.)

Park Region's 35 employees make sure its customers are up to date technologically. The company offers ISDN and Frame Relay, recently added $100,000 worth of state-of-the-art Internet equipment, and is moving to xDSL technology with 128K connection speed. It will add 100 miles of fiber optic cable to its existing 350 miles, bringing fiber inside 3 miles (an excellent number for a sparsely-populated area) of every home it serves. The company sells wireless services and DBS satellite and alarm systems, and wires LAN and WAN systems. In addition, the company has a competitive local exchange company (CLEC) in Fergus Falls and offers Lifelineâ, a personal emergency response system that enables the elderly and ill to live at home.

Examples of Park Region's community efforts include its $34,000 donation to a revolving government loan fund. The fund's first project was remodeling an Underwood building so a business could relocate. Park Region's Charitable Trust has given over $25,000 in the last two years alone to support area festivals, summer schools, youth projects and other charitable causes.

Paul Hoff, General Manager and CEO, believes that "the telecommunications services of tomorrow will be best provided by the trusted service providers of today. We've tried to position ourselves as broadly as possible," he adds, "by developing our staff, our facilities and our networking capabilities. We're excited every day to have the opportunity to bring technology that enriches the lives of our customers and strengthens our communities."