Rural Telephone Cooperatives Illinois “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

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.

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 / CEO McDonough Telephone Cooperative 210 N. Coal Street Colchester, IL (309)