“Cooperation Among Cooperatives” is one of the seven principles embraced by cooperatives throughout the world. Consolidated Telephone Cooperative (CTC), in Brainerd, Minnesota, has taken that principle seriously by partnering with electric cooperatives and other public entities to build and maintain state-of-the-art fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) networks for over 10 years. CTC has served its members with telecommunications services for more than 70 years.
Over 10 years ago, CTC established partnerships with Arrowhead Electric Cooperative in far northeast Minnesota and Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative in the lakes country of north-central Minnesota. CTC continues to assist those co-ops with system infrastructure, engineering, construction coordination, and network management services, helping to deploy broadband services to some of Minnesota’s most unserved rural areas. In addition, CTC bundled customer service, sales training, marketing, and help-desk services to fully support the operations of these electric cooperatives’ new offerings.
“The partnership we have with CTC has continued to be instrumental in the success of our fiber projects and is a cornerstone in our long-term plan,” said John Twiest, CEO and general manager at Arrowhead Electric Cooperative. “From the onset, CTC assisted us in creating a plan that would best fit our community’s needs, to ensure we were successful. Today we are able to utilize CTC’s expertise and resources to continue to grow and advance our services.”
Throughout the entire partnership and process, CTC provides direction, technical expertise, and leadership. CTC’s work in the partnership arena has since expanded to include other electric co-ops, municipalities, and tribal entities. Across Minnesota, CTC is often the provider partner of choice for non-traditional broadband deployment, whether supporting expansion of CTC’s own broadband footprint or providing partnership support to a new broadband entity.
“The Bois Forte tribal community has partnered with CTC for a few years now. They’re professional, experienced, responsive, and have provided a tremendous amount of guidance as we navigate our National Telecommunications and Information Administration-supported project,” said Randy Long, IT director with Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. “Building an FTTP broadband network throughout our entire rural tribal community has been quite the undertaking, and I’m not sure how we would have done it without their support!”
By partnering with middle-mile provider Northeast Service Cooperative (NESC) on Minnesota’s Iron Range, CTC has been able to reach across wide swaths of northern Minnesota without the burdensome capital expense of building hundreds of miles of fiber. NESC began as a collaboration of school districts that built its own fiber network to enable distance education through videoconferencing and advanced inter-school-district innovation. Another example of cooperative principles in action!
The key to these successful partnerships lies within the customized nature of the agreements. CTC acknowledges and appreciates each prospective partner’s unique set of needs and capabilities and customizes each of the partnerships accordingly by offering a robust list of à la carte services.
According to the CTC team, developing and formalizing long-lasting partnerships takes time for each partner to learn about and get to know the other, especially the key leadership of each team. Developing that understanding is a key factor in starting serious partnership discussions. Projects move forward at the speed of trust and confidence that all parties have a commitment to project goals, foundational principles, and sustainable partnership agreements.
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