Rural Telephone CooperativesIllinois

“Delivering the Promise”Bill Buchanan, President/CEO

McDonough Telephone Cooperative

Rural Telephone Companies

• Approximately 1,200 companies across the United States

• Approx. 600 Cooperative and 600 Commercial (stock and family owned)

• Serving approx. 8% of the homes in America• Covering over 40% of America’s land mass• Most have been in business for over 60 yrs.

Rural Telephone Companies

• NTCA study shows 99% of its members offer DSL to their customers.

• 99% utilize DSL technology• 32% FTTH• 20% Unlicensed Wireless• 16% Licensed• 14% Satellite• 12% Cable Modem• NTCA Member companies serve 3.2M lines

Rural Telephone Companies

• Connecting the most economically challenged and geographically demanding rural areas of our country with the rest of the world.

• The “Digital Divide” doesn’t exist where we live.

Illinois Cooperatives

• McDonough Telephone Cooperative• Mid Century Telephone Cooperative• Adams Telephone Cooperative• Egyptian Telephone Cooperative• Wabash Telephone Cooperative• Hamilton County Telephone Cooperative• Oneida Telephone Cooperative• Flat Rock Telephone Cooperative

Illinois Cooperatives

• Serve over 40 counties in Illinois• Provide service to over 35,000

households in rural Illinois• Provide 100% coverage of DSL service

in our markets. • Also providing video programming via

CATV and IPTV solutions.

McDonough Telephone Cooperative

• 4000 members• 11 Board of Directors• 30 Employees• 12 Communities• $30M Plant Investment• Local and Long

Distance Service• DSL • IPTV

McDonough Telephone Cooperative

• Installing FTTH to position ourselves for future broadband applications.

• Building FTTH into non-traditional markets to grow our customer / member base.

• More information on FTTH

www.ftthcouncil.org

7 Cooperative Principles

• Open Membership

• Democratic Member Control

• Members’ Economic Participation

• Autonomy and Independence

• Education, Training and Information

• Cooperation among Cooperatives

• Concern for Community

More information on the Cooperative Model

• “Cooperatives and Local Development Theory and Applications for the 21st Century” Christopher D. Merrett and Norman Walzer

What Illinois Small Rural Telco’s are Doing.

Grow Illinois Alliance

• Small Rural Telephone Companies and Cooperatives serving rural communities in Illinois

• “Homegrown” approach to telecommunications.

www.growillinois.org

• Website will be a resource for establishing communities served by GIA members.

• Tool for the public sector to identify communities that could benefit from economic development training

Questions ?

Bill Buchanan, President / CEOMcDonough Telephone Cooperative

210 N. Coal StreetColchester, IL 62326

(309)776-3211buchanan@mdtc.net