April was a busy month for OTELCO in many ways, not the least of which was attention from the media as the pandemic and associated shelter in place orders highlighted the importance of rural broadband expansion. Here’s a round-up of some of the conversations we were involved in. OTELCO Sees COVID Related Internet Usage Surge in Rural Alabama This week, OTELCO Vice President of Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service, Trevor Jones, spoke to Business Alabama… Read more »
Monday morning OTELCO took a road trip to the Statehouse to observe the legislature as it considered a general obligation bond that would, among other things, have freed up substantial funding for broadband expansion. Unfortunately, the Maine broadband bond did not get the two-thirds majority vote in needed in the house or the senate. If it had, voters would have been able to vote on it in the November Election. Instead, lawmakers decided to table… Read more »
Last week, Motherboard published an article denouncing a speech made by FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, at this year’s “Free Speech America Gala” held by the Media Institute. In this speech, O’Rielly outwardly attacked municipal owned networks for impinging upon users first amendment rights. The commissioner’s exact words were “In addition to creating competitive distortions and misdirecting scarce resources that should go to bringing broadband to the truly unserved areas, municipal broadband networks have engaged in… Read more »
Last week was the Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association’s 2018 conference. NNECAPA met at Point Look Out in Northport, ME to discuss a myriad of issues centered on this year’s theme, “Defining Resiliency for Northern New England.” OTELCO was proud to be a presenter and sponsor of this conference, weighing in on the importance of municipal broadband, and how planners can help bring fiber to the premise to their communities. Maine… Read more »
2018 is shaping up to be a big year for the ConnectME Authority, and their mission to equip Maine with reliable broadband infrastructure. For those who don’t know, ConnectME is a government agency whose mission is to “facilitate the universal availability of broadband to all Maine households and businesses and help them understand the valuable role it can play in enriching their lives and helping their communities thrive.” Already this year ConnectME has Redefined their… Read more »
Cybersecurity statistics can be both shocking and unsettling, and sadly... More »
Can you believe 2020 is halfway done? The OTELCO Blog has covered a lot in... More »
Even as Maine reopens in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses... More »