The Legacy Of The Louisiana Independent Telephone Industry
Past, Present And Future

I. The Past | II. The Present | III. The Future

As the telecommunications industry continues to evolve, the role of the Independent telephone company is not only expanding, but is taking on a new beginning. While it is true the the migration of many Americans from rural to urban areas has impacted the number of businesses and residential customers available to support the cost of the rural local telephone network, it is also true that the Independent continue to explore forms of rural development which will counteract this trend. As we enter into the information age, the Independents are on the cutting edge of deploying high speed data transmission, educational video, wireless communications and other state-of -the art service offerings necessary to maintain and attract businesses and people necessary to ensure healthy rural communities.

The primary focus of all Independents will continue to be to utilize all available resources to ensure affordable telephone service is universally available to rural customers. However, in today's environment, the goals of the Independents must include a much broader range of objectives. The telecommunications challenge facing rural America today is to deploy an infrastructure capable of interfacing with SCB's network in order to fully participate in the information age. It is critical for the Independents to have a telecommunications network at least as sophisticated as that employed by SCB in order to not only participate with SCB's network, but to compete for business opportunities with then larger urban areas. Many large businesses are now choosing to locate in rural areas due to the lower labor costs, higher quality of living for their employees and lower crime rates as long as the telecommunications facilities in these areas are sufficient to meet their needs. It is critical that the Independents in Louisiana be positioned to take advantage of these opportunities as they present themselves.

The availability of telecommunications service in rural areas similar in quality and cost to that which is available to urban customers is extremely important to the financial well being of both the Independents and the rural communities they serve. In order for the Independents to continue their modernization efforts relative to rural telecommunications infrastructure, it is important that both state and federal regulatory authorities provide the Independents the opportunity to compete on an equal level with newly emerging competitors. This includes establishing procedures which will enable the Independents to meet competitive threats in a timely and effective manner. For example, time consuming and costly regulatory proceedings will ultimately serve only the competitors who use the process to delay and forestall local exchange companies from implementing either new services or rate changes necessary to compete. Expedited filing procedures must be established and maintained to shorten both the time and cost associated with meeting competition in the evolving telecommunications environment. In addition, it is important that the regulatory authorities provide the Independents with a consistent commitment to modernizing their networks by maintaining a source of affordable financing, such as is currently available with the REA programs.