Recently added articles from Rural Telecommunications:
Looking for a few good men (and women).(From the Editor)(Editorial)
Sep 01, 2009; Mann, Wendy ... I haven't been in the telecom industry long, but I have enjoyed getting to know some of the finest general managers in the business. I recently read a Heart of Iowa Communications Cooperative customer newsletter with a farewell letter from David Schmidt to the customers he has served for ...
Under contract.(SHORT Takes)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... Temporary workers, the first to be cut when the economy falters, are being given a fresh look amid conflicting indicators of a predicted economic recovery. Rather than hiring full-time staffers, cautious employers are hiring back temporary workers on contract, sometimes at lower ...
Coming soon: cellular satellite competition.(SHORT Takes)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... Virginia-based TerreStar Networks is ramping up a hybrid satellite/cellular service that will cover rural areas. The service is scheduled to launch later this year in the United States and Canada. A new satellite that will support the service launched ...
Facebook's (ad-free?) revenues.(SHORT Takes)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... A projection of billions of dollars in Facebook revenue by 2014 from one of the company's board members might be dismissed as hyperbole, but when it comes from Marc Andreessen--founder of Netscape Communications and the first Web browser--it merits attention. Andreessen told ...
Six ways employers are coping with economic challenges.(SHORT Takes)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... 1. Postponed start dates. In the first half of 2009, 8% of employers made job offers with delayed start dates. Forty-two percent of those employers included a pay incentive for the delay. 2. Furloughs. Ten percent of employers have instituted mandatory leaves of absence from ...
The benefits of office coffee.(SHORT Takes)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... Regardless of whether your office coffee has the quality of dishwater or Starbucks, it might be benefiting workers' long-term mental fitness. Among the latest findings in coffee research is that five cups of coffee a day not only might delay the onset of ...
An example in their youth.(SHORT Takes)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... It's no secret that Generation Y is teaching older workers a thing or two about social networking, but new numbers are documenting the extent of this trend. The Center for Work-Life Policy (CWLP) found that 64% of Gen Yers (those born between 1979 and 1994) are regular social networkers, ...
America's fastest growing city is ...(SHORT Takes)(Brief article)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... New Orleans, La., is America's fastest growing city--a major rebound following Hurricane Katrina. As of July 1, 2008, New Orleans had 311,853 residents compared with a pre-Katrina number of 484,674, but the city's recent 8.2% growth was faster than that of any other large U.S. city. ...
The keys to employee retention.(SHORT Takes)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... Despite more than 13 million people being out of work, more than 3 million positions remain unfilled--and those positions aren't just lower-level jobs. Clearly, some employers can't find the right fit for certain positions, making employee retention all the more important. ...
The best investment you can make.(Perspective)(Viewpoint essay)
Sep 01, 2009; Sherrill, Patrick ... I was sitting at my desk on October 25, 2007, when I received a short but significant telephone call from the field: "I'm calling from the Gomez home. We got 'em in service." Those words marked the first residential call completed from the Whispering Ranch community, a sparsely ...
What was your most successful marketing event in the past year?(FIRST Person)
Sep 01, 2009; Hamaker, Christian ... Successful marketing involves planning, execution and accurate measurement of success. We asked rural telco veterans about their biggest marketing success stories from the past 12 months, and how they quantified that success. Allen Russ, CEO/general manager at ATMC (Shallotte, ...
Retooling your pandemic flu plan: before the next wave.
Sep 01, 2009; Druckman, Myles ... While the recent HINI flu virus outbreak has served as a wake-up call for some, for others it has been a useful test of their plan. In less than a week, the World Health Organization (WHO) moved from Phase 3--where there are very limited human-to-human cases--to Phase 5. On June 11, 2009, ...
Can work: flexible work arrangements.
Sep 01, 2009; Kroll, Karen M. ... With the economy continuing to languish and many organizations trying to do more with less, it may seem like the wrong time to implement flexible work arrangements. Such arrangements sometimes are seen as an accommodation to employees' needs that can disrupt an organization's operations ...
When will broadband stimulus funds begin to flow.(UNITED STATES BROADBAND AMERICA)
Sep 01, 2009; Zager, Masha ... The biggest news in the broadband world this year has been the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), popularly known as the stimulus package. Included in the nearly $800 billion of programs designed to stimulate the American economy is $7.2 billion targeted ...
More than a pipe: become a content gatekeeper.
Sep 01, 2009; Forrer, Madeleine ... It's no secret. Telecommunications is evolving. In just a few years, "wireless only" households grew from almost zero to 20%, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Traditional services-even advanced video services--are suffering, with recent reports claiming that young ...
A different decade: the shifting ground of IPTV regulation.
Sep 01, 2009; Shapiro, Howard ... Although February 12, 2009, was designated as the official date of the nation's transition to digital television, there remains much work left to be done before that transition is complete. Only a relatively small percentage of U.S. television households currently rely exclusively on the ...
Strategic considerations in video programming acquisition.
Sep 01, 2009; Willard, Mark ... The principal reason for an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) to enter the video distribution market is to protect existing telco margins from market forces that are transforming voice telephony (wireline and wireless), Internet access and video into a single communications market ...
IPTV services: the sum of the parts.
Sep 01, 2009; Scherf, Kurt ... Outside of a telecom operator's ability to offer upfront pricing deals or deliver a higher quality of customer service, what are the essential elements to creating a television service that builds customer loyalty, increases retention and grows revenue streams? We believe that the answer ...
Innovation: the key to long-term IPTV success.
Sep 01, 2009; Graves, Jeremy ... Sometimes it should be referred to as "Impossible TV." Whether your company is in the beginning stages of offering IPTV or right in the thick of it, you understand what I mean. The challenges are sometimes overwhelming. Just when you think you're going to hurt somebody if they mention ...
At the summit of the IPTV marketing mountain.(Conference news)
Sep 01, 2009; Colaw, Vickie ... My company, Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks Telephone Co. (Riverton, W.Va.), is a 1,200-member cooperative located in a very remote, mountainous, but beautiful area. In 2008, we began the process of replacing the outside copper plant with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH). Although other companies in West ...
