Never Boring

One thing I have to say, it is never boring around here. We are con-stantly looking for new services to provide or a way to make the ser-vices that we provide better and even more cost effective. I just thought I would touch on some of the things we have going on.

Unlimited Long Distance – This is the most exciting one; starting June 1, 2009, you will be able to add unlimited long distance to your account. This means you no longer have to worry about how many minutes of long distance you are using. This also means you will be able to make those long distance calls from the com-fort of your living room instead of trying to find a usable cell phone signal. Call your kids, parents, relatives, or friends and talk for hours. This will be available to businesses also. Just think how easy it will be to budget for all your long distance calls now! You can learn more about this by call-ing our office. I would encourage

everyone to take a look at this.

Higher speeds for DataNet – This one is also exciting starting on May 1, 2009, and throughout the months, we will be increas-ing the speeds of all our DataNet customers. This will be done without a rate increase. You will continue to pay the same low price. Speeds will increase 50% to 100% depending on which plan you are on. If you would like more details, please call our office.

Fiber to the Home – This sum-mer we will start construction of a fiber to the home project in the town of Kennebec. The majority of the Town of Kennebec’s tele-phone cable was installed in 1980 and is starting to show its age, so we are going to re-build the town. We will be putting in duct and then pulling the fiber through the duct in the alleys. We will also put in a duct to each home or business and run fiber to each house. Stay tuned for more on this project.

Soft Switch – We are going to be installing a new switching tech-nology in both Kennebec and Presho. It is referred to as a soft switch. This will bring our cus-tomers more features and keep us up with all the latest technolo-gies. Stay tuned for more on this project also.

Cable TV – After our network fiasco, you would think we might let things settle down, but we are not. Yes, we had to raise rates to off-set the network fees and increases by the other program-mers, but we now trying to add channels without raising your rates. We just added My U TV on channel 61 and are continuing to look for more. I would like to also encourage you to take a look at some of the digital programming. It offers quite a variety of channels for a very low price. Please call our office for details.

Manager Moment

Be on the LOOK out for Unlimited Long Distance!

inside this issue:Page article

2 rural areas making the BroadBand connection

3 ktc official meets with congressinal rePresentatives

Volume 4 Issue 5

Available June 1st

Continued on page 4

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(NAPS) - Thanks to small, inde-pendent communications provid-ers, broadband is getting even broader.

But the fiber-optic cables that provide this service aren’t getting bigger. Instead, they’re reaching farther, offering phone and Inter-net access to people in rural and less-populated areas.

About BroadbandChances are you or someone in your family has used a broadband application in the past 24 hours. You may have downloaded music files, streamed a TV show to your laptop, or sent new baby pictures to a long-distance relative. No matter whether they’re seriously wired or just casual computer users, people across the globe are increasingly relying on broadband services to meet their economic, personal security, and entertain-ment needs.

Broadband increases the quality of life in rural communities and plays a critical role in maintaining-and increasing-the populations of these communities throughout the nation. For instance:* Enhanced telemedicine facili-ties enable doctors to diagnose homebound patients from hun-dreds of miles away.* Rural schools are able to band together to offer online foreign language courses that no one school could afford on its own.* Workers can connect from home and gain uninterrupted access to files and applications at speeds that rival those of their office.* Broadband access can also limit or reverse “urban migration.” Rural residents and youth, who had been abandoning small towns for opportunities in the city, can now access the same advanced tech-nologies as their urban counter-parts. In addition, high-capacity broadband can help create new

jobs and prevent the loss of oth-ers, both of which are key to rural communities not only surviving, but thriving.

Much of this broadband expan-sion has been made possible due to a law that was passed 75 years ago. The Communica-tions Act of 1934, as amended, ensures that consumers in rural and geographically isolated areas receive telecom services which are comparable in price and scope to those in urban areas.

Yet to make certain all Americans benefit from this communications connection, America needs a clear national broadband policy that distinctly defines broadband as a fully supported universal service, ensuring our network infrastruc-ture is capable of delivering the advanced services that consumers demand.

Rural Areas Making the Broadband Connection

$1250 IN SCHOLARSHIP MONEY TO BE GIVEN AWAY• There will be three SDATC Memorial Scholarships Available• Applicants must have completed at least two semesters of course work at any accredited post- secondary school in South Dakota.• Applicant for family must be member/customer of an SD telephone cooperative or other SDATC member local exchange carrier.• The SDATC Memorial Scholarship can be used any post-secondary educational institution in South Dakota including public/private universities, technical schools, or community colleges.• Applications are available at the Kennebec Telephone office, www.sdatconline.com, or from any South Dakota post-secondary institution student financial aid office.

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Kennebec Telephone Co., Inc. Official Meets with Congressional Representatives Rod Bowar, Manager of Kennebec Telephone, was in Washington to participate in the National Telecommu-nications Cooperative Association’s Legislative & Policy Conference, March 22-24. During the annual event, more than 600 rural telecom representatives from throughout the country, including more than 20 officials from South Dakota, gathered in the nation’s capitol for educational briefings about emerging rules and regu-lations and other industry issues. They also take part in visits to policy-makers on Capitol Hill and the FCC.

The South Dakota group met with Johnson, Thune, and Herseth-Sadlin on March 24th to discuss how small communications providers like Kennebec Telephone are working to bring affordable, cutting-edge commu-nications services to consumers in the Kennebec and Presho areas.

Among the issues discussed were the newly established broadband funding programs created by the eco-nomic stimulus bill recently signed into law. They pointed out many examples of our broadband services that have enhanced the lives of many area residents. In addition, they explained how the Federal Universal Fund helps support their efforts to deliver consumers next-generation communications technologies at affordable rates. The group urged the delegation to act to ensure rural communities, like those in Kennebec Telephone’s area, remain a vital part of our nation’s fabric by advocating policies that will sustain universal service support.

They also touched on several other challenges small providers face in bringing affordable advanced com-munications to rural America, including access to video content, and discussed the importance of ensuring adequate financing for future network building and maintenance.

Winners of our Easter Coloring Contest are Tance Wagner and

Tristen Schelske

Directory Changes:

Kennebec Housing (shop) 869-2154

Important Dates:

Mother’s Day May 10 Armed Forces Day May 16Memorial Day May 25 Office Closed

Cable Changes

You will no longer be able to recieve KEVN-FOX on channel 62, but it is still available on channel 4.

A new channel has been added to our line up and that is My U TV on channel 61.

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Kennebec Telephone Co., Inc.Kennebec Long DistanceKennebec Telephone ConstructionPowerCom Electric and Communicaitons

220 S MainPO Box 158Kennebec, SD 57544Phone: 605-869-2220 Fax: 605-869-2221Email: knbctel@kennebectelephone.com Website: www.kennebectelephone.com

Our mission is to provide the highest quality telecommuniations and information service to our custom-ers at an affordable price. We will strive to offer prompt, friendly and dependable service along with the latest technology to attain the higheest possible customer satisfaction.

If you would like more information or have questions about anything in this newsletter feel free to con-tact us at 605-869-2220.

PowerCom Electric – We are adding 2 more electricians to help Barrot and Brad in an effort to better serve our customers. They will be starting in May. So now is a good time to contact PowerCom for any electrical projects you may have.

Mechanical and Welding – We purchased the Mertens building here in Kennebec which used to house the Chevrolet dealership. We are currently re-modeling and hope to soon have the building ready to go. We plan on moving our mechanics and welders down to this building. Today we are operating out of a shop at Delores Johnstone’s, and we have out grown it. We currently offer all types of mechanical and welding work and will continue to do so out of our new location. For more information please stop in or call our office.

So, as you can see, it is anything but boring around our office. Thanks for reading!!

Rod Bowar Manager

Manager Moment Cont..

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