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Telephone companies call on EDA
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
MONTEREY - The Highland County Economic Development Authority gathered more information on what Highland has to offer businesses Tuesday with presentations by Highland Telephone Cooperative and MGW Telephone.
"Are we limited in any way as we go forward in trying to approach people in moving to this area?" asked EDA member Trent Burkholder. "This is our biggest concern. It doesn't appear that we are."
HTC general manager Philip Munchel said, "I am impressed with what we can do. We need to tell you folks."
HTC serves the western half of the county. It has DSL, T1, Ethernet and ISDN capabilities. All but ISDN provide broadband capabilities.
DSL is a high-speed line that can transmit over existing copper telephone lines, receiving 1.5 to 9 Mbps to 9 Mbps and sending 16 to 640 Kbps.
T1 can send 1.544 Mbps, roughly 60 times a normal residential modem.
Ethernet provides transfer rates of 10 Mbps. Newer versions of Ethernet can transfer 100 Mbps and 1,000 Mbps.
ISDN transfers data at 128 Kbps and is not considered broadband. ISDN is a digital transmission system that is twice as fast as the old analog telephone system that transmitted voice at 56 Kbps.
Responding to a question from Highland County Chamber of Commerce executive director Carolyn Pohowsky, Munchel said literature touting the benefits of relocating to Highland County should include access to broadband, not just DSL, which is but one component available to customers in HTC's area. The more generic term is broadband, he said, adding HTC is 100 percent capable of providing broadband service.
The FCC describes broadband as 200 kilobits per second (there are eight bits to a byte). Newton's Telecom dictionary calls broadband any circuit significantly faster than dialup.
EDA member Lloyd Bird expressed concern about HTC's solitary connection to the outside world via TDS to the south. "How robust, how fragile is that?" he asked. "Are there plans to have other access in a different direction to make it more robust?"
If that single line were damaged, all customers served by HTC would be without service until it was repaired. If HTC had a second line linking it to places outside its area of responsibility, it would be able to maintain service even with one line down.
Munchel acknowledged the problem and said he was working on a solution, possibly with neighboring phone company, MGW.
He said the problem was not as bad here as in other places, though. If HTC lost a link outside its area, it would still be able to process E-911 calls, for example. Munchel said he witnessed a loss of telephone service in Colorado that affected emergency service calls due to the way the line was configured to relay calls outside the company's operating area.
"Redundancy and diversity is an absolute requirement before we can bring (certain businesses here)," said EDA chair Betty Mitchell.
"It is critical," said Munchel. "I recognize that. Financially, it wouldn't benefit HTC, but it is the right thing to do to protect that diversity. Any company would like that diversity."
MGW Telephone, a family-owned business, serves the eastern half of Highland County. Craig Smith, president, said, "I am trying to make my company relevant to what people want and need."
He said MGW has expanded dramatically over the years, providing needed services beyond the eastern half of Highland County, and competes regionally with Verizon, Comcast and Ntelos. MGW provides three-county, sevendigit calling to Stuarts Draft, Verona, Churchville, Craigsville and Millboro. MGW also has direct connection to AT&T, MCI, Verizon and MGW long distance.
Smith was confident he could provide broadband to almost anyone in his area.
"I sell service, that's what we do," said Smith. "I try to be a visionary, not a reactionary. That's a kind of motto of my life."
Munchel and Smith agreed the only restriction on future development of telecommunications in Highland would be due to a lack of money, not a lack of will.
As technology improves and becomes less expensive, new services and options will become available to local customers, depending on demand.
The market and government pressure are changing the environment for small telephone companies, Smith said. Wireless services are taking a larger portion of the communications market, forcing small telephone companies to change or diminish. He also said federal funding had increased from $2.6 billion to $4 billion from 2001-06 nationally, creating a potential backlash in Congress against additional spending for rural telephone companies. If federal spending on rural telephone services were to decrease, the cost of service would have to increase, said Smith.
For more information about HTC call (540) 468-2131 or go online to www.htcnet.org.
For more information about MGW Telephone call (540) 925-2555 or go online to www.mgwnet.com.
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