[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 10 (Monday, February 2, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S368-S369]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NTCA 50th ANNIVERSARY

 Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the National 
Telecommunications Cooperative Association as they celebrate their 50th 
anniversary. I take great pride in the fact that BEK Communications 
Cooperative of Steele, ND is among the founding members of NTCA. 
Forming soon after the Rural Electrification Administration, REA--today 
known as the Rural Utilities Service--was granted authority to make 
loans to telephone companies, BEK and its fellow members in the 
National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, NTCA, have evolved 
from providing basic multiparty telephone service to offering a full 
array of advanced telecommunications services.
  Rural telecommunications carriers owe a debt of gratitude to REA, and 
those who sought to expand its role. The idea of expanding the scope 
and authority of the REA, began in the late 1930s when REA 
Administrator John Carmody wrote:

       Personally, I have long felt there was a real opportunity 
     for constructive assistance to rural people in the idea of 
     Federal financing of farm telephone lines. It seems to me 
     that the rural people have just as much right to up-to-date 
     communication as they have to modern power. There's no 
     question in my mind but that Government assistance will be 
     required if the job is ever to be completed.

  This idea remained just an idea until 1944 when Senator Lister Hill, 
a Democrat from Alabama, introduced legislation calling for the 
formation of the Rural Telephone Administration, modeled after the REA. 
Senator Hill was soon joined in his effort to bring telephone service 
to rural America by, Representative W.R. ``Bob'' Poage, Democrat from 
Texas, who introduced similar legislation calling for the expansion of 
the existing REA to make telephone loans.
  Following 4 years of failed attempts, Congress finally succeeded in 
passing the telephone amendments to the Rural Electrification Act. On 
October 28, 1949, President Harry Truman signed the measure into law, 
which granted the REA the authority to make loans for the extension and 
improvement of rural telephone service.
  Soon thereafter, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, 
NRECA, created a telephone committee, composed of representatives of 
newly formed joint electric-telephone cooperative organizations. By 
1954, representatives from these co-ops, with the encouragement of 
NRECA, decided that the time had come to form a separate national 
organization to represent telephone cooperatives.
  On June 1, 1954, eight companies, including my constituent then known 
as BEK Mutual Aid Corporation, along with: Buggs Island Telephone 
Cooperative, Chase City, VA; Mark Twain Rural Telephone Company, 
Bethel, MO; Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Circle, MT; Pineland 
Telephone Cooperative, Inc. Metter, GA; Winnebago Cooperative Telephone 
Association, Lake Mills, IA, Twin Lakes Telephone Cooperative 
Gainesboro, TN, and North Central Telephone Cooperative Lafayette, TN 
formed the National Telephone Cooperative Association, which was later 
renamed the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association.
  BEK, whose name was formed by the initials of Burleigh, Emmons, and 
Kidder counties, was incorporated in 1952, and was one of the first 
recipients of telephone loans from the REA. In fact, the company 
received its first REA loan for $371,000 in April 1952 to purchase and 
upgrade its Hazleton, ND exchange. In 1954, REA approved a second loan 
for $1,499,000. This funding enabled BEK to expand their service 
territory with the purchase of several independent telephone companies 
and to

[[Page S369]]

begin the process of establishing modern dial exchanges. The Hazleton 
exchange became the first to be cut over to modern dial service on 
March 3, 1956. BEK continued to grow and prosper throughout the 1950's 
and 1960's. In April 1967, a third REA loan enabled BEK to begin 
upgrading its system to one party service. By June 10, 1977, all of 
BEK's 12 exchanges had been upgraded to one-party service.
  What began as a dream in the minds of rural residents 50 years ago 
has evolved into a diverse, state-of-the art telecommunications company 
serving 6,000 members across 5,700 square miles in a six-county area. 
Today BEK Communications provides many basic and advanced services 
including: local and long distance telephone service, dial-up and high 
speed Internet access, using DSL & satellite technologies, advanced 
intelligent network features, ISDN, dedicated data circuits, voice 
mail, automated attendant functions, centrex and more.
  BEK's success and its commitment to providing exemplary 
telecommunications services to its members is indicative of all the 
rural telecommunications carriers that make up the membership of the 
National Telecommunications Cooperative Association. NTCA's membership 
has expanded from eight members in seven States to 558 members spread 
across 45 States. These small rural telecommunications systems provide 
voice services to approximately 3,270,000 subscribers over a combined 
territory comprising some 40 percent of the geographic United States. 
On average, NTCA member-companies serve rural areas with a population 
density averaging between one to five customers per square mile, a 
sharp contrast from the Bell companies average of 130 customers per 
square mile. Today, NTCA member-companies on average serve 5,100 
subscribers. In addition to their traditional voice offerings, most are 
also engaged in the provision of some combination of Internet, 
wireless, long distance, paging, and cable or satellite television 
services.
  Through it all, NTCA members have maintained that local touch that 
can only be found by folks serving their friends and neighbors. With 
the financial assistance of the Rural Utilities Service, NTCA members 
remain on the cutting edge of technology by expanding broadband 
opportunities through such means as fiber-to-the-home projects in 
communities across this country. NTCA rural telecommunications 
companies continue to connect the heartland of America to the world. 
NTCA and its 558 member-companies should be commended for their ever 
present commitment to rural America.
  Happy 50th Anniversary, NTCA.

                          ____________________