OPASTCO 50th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet

ROUNDtable
O P A ST C O

President

John N. Rose

Editor

Martha K. Silver

Associate Editor

Caroline O’Reilly

Art Director

Sharri Harris Wolfgang
AURAS Design

Advertising Sales

Partyke Communications
Contributing Editors

Director of Technical Issues

John T. McHugh

Director of Business Development/
Senior Policy Analyst

Steve Pastorkovich

Vice President of Regulatory
Policy and Business Development

Stuart Polikoff

Director of Education

Kathleen Kelley Riesett

Vice President of Legislative Policy

Randy Tyree

OPASTCO Officers
Chairman

Mike Osborne

First Vice Chairman/Chairman-Elect

Rhonda Armstrong

Second Vice Chairman

Cullen McCarty

Treasurer

Pete Holland

OPASTCO Roundtable (ISSN-10436073) is published four times per year
by the Organization for the Promotion
and Advancement of Small Telecommunications
Companies, 2020 K Street, NW, 7th Floor,
Washington, DC 20006; 202/659-5990.
Copyright 2013 by the Organi ation for the
z
Promotion and Advancement of Small
Telecommunications Companies. All rights reserved.
OPASTCO Roundtable is a controlled circulation
publication, third-class bulk postage paid at
Altavista, Va. Appearance of advertisements in
OPASTCO Roundtable does not constitute
endorsement by OPASTCO.
OPASTCO is a member of the Society
of National Association Publications.

Letter from President John Rose

50 Fabulous Years of Achievement and Fellowship
5

Letter from Chairman Mike Osborne

Pioneers Past, Present and Future
7

Acknowledgements

50th Anniversary Celebration Committee
8

Timeline

OPASTCO: 50 Years of
Connecting Communities
10

Tribute

John Rose:
OPASTCO’s President and Industry Leader
34

John Rose’s Top 10

Telecom Advocacy Efforts by OPASTCO
38

Foundation

The History and Mission of FRED
40

Leadership and service

OPASTCO Presidents & Chairmen
42

OPASTCO Award Recipients
44

OPASTCO Boards & Directors
48

1963–2013

n

O P A S T C O 5 0 y e ars

3

Congratulations OPASTCO on

50 YEARS!
JSI is proud to have stood with OPASTCO since
its very start. Your work has made a difference
for both your members and the industry.
Through the ups and the downs of the last
50 years, the rural industry’s spirit of
cooperation has remained steadfast. We look
forward to continuing that partnership with
everyone working on behalf of rural America.

phone 301-459-7590 | email jsi@jsitel.com | web www.jsitel.com
Headquarters – Greenbelt, Md. | Austin | Minneapolis | Atlanta | Salt Lake City

OPASTCO n Letter from John Rose

50 Fabulous Years of
Achievement and Fellowship
Opastco history is like family
history to me. It is about the people,
the rural community, generations of
families and employees, and most of
all, the rural pioneering can-do spirit.
OPASTCO member companies and
cooperatives built the finest telecommunications networks where the large
AT&T/Bell operating companies could
see no business returns. Even some of the large
independent holding companies built their companies on what small independents had already
accomplished.
I have read all the individual, company and
state telephone association histories that I could
read. These histories and accomplishments are
America’s successes. Rural telephone companies
and cooperatives, OPASTCO members, are
proud of this heritage, and this 50th anniversary
book commemorates this proud accomplishment.
Rural companies have always invested in their
community and their employees for the long
term. Small telecommunications companies were
committed to their communities. OPASTCO
has been at the forefront in pushing for new
opportunities, new businesses, new technology,
and new ways of doing things. We have always
known that problems are also opportunities,
and we must continue to reinvent ourselves. The
past is prologue to what the next fifty years may
bring. We know that many challenges lay ahead;
however, the track record that has been achieved
with sparse resources gives us a road map for
the future. The goal is the success of our businesses and our communities in a world economy. OPASTCO and its members have always
embraced new technology.
During the last fifty years, success has come
through hard work and cooperation. We may
have disagreed about the directions, but for
the most part, we have not been disagreeable.

Our meetings were all over this land
and have been conducted in a family
atmosphere. We have reached out to
include Canadian small independents
in the organization. We have made
friends with the telephone companies
in Finland. We have worked with the
International Finance Corporation to
find opportunities in Hungary. We
have been at the table with both state and federal
policy makers on all the major issues. OPASTCO
representatives have been voting members on all
the FCC Technical Advisory Councils. All the
large telecommunication companies know us as
strong, forward-looking negotiators. This heritage
will serve the industry well as we move forward
for the next fifty years.
OPASTCO was founded in 1963 as a result
of toll ticketing settlements issues, and here
we are still debating toll ticketing’s grandchild,
access charges. There were many more independents in 1963, and OPASTCO grew rapidly and
reached its peak in membership around the year
2000 even as the number of small independent
companies steadily decreased. But the spirit
of OPASTCO will never decline as long as it
remains in the hearts of members and employees.
Long live the OPASTCO spirit and its boldness.
Let us toast every year to the legacy of rural
telephony, rural telephone companies and
OPASTCO, and let us toast to the new industry
and small telecommunications companies. The
glasses will forever touch in my mind.

John Rose
President, OPASTCO

1963–2013

n


5

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OPASTCO n Letter from Mike Osborn

Pioneers Past,
Present and Future
Our industry has accomplished so
much in the past 50 years. This commemorative booklet is a testament to
the challenges we have overcome and
the progress we can achieve when we
work together.
We created a community of
OPASTCO members, linking rural
communities together through the
desire to bring high-quality telecommunications
services to our customers. Individual companies and their employees were no longer each
trying to solve the same problem on their own.
Our collective expertise and hard work helped
all of rural America’s telecommunications move
forward.
As individual companies, we have come
together through OPASTCO and its committees to steer public policies that would benefit
rural networks and rural communities, and have
created resources and tools that improved our
business capabilities. Together, we have met at
OPASTCO conventions to learn from each other,
have reenergized ourselves in an atmosphere of
camaraderie, and have brought valuable problemsolving information back to our rural companies
and communities.
Now our industry is facing new challenges. As
technology changes, so, too, must we change. We
need to learn from the lessons of our history and
recognize what we can accomplish if our country’s rural telecommunications industry comes
together, speaks as one voice, and strategically
invests in our future.

Where the earliest pioneers in our
industry were blazing new trails as
independent telephone companies,
during the past 50 years, we have
added many telecommunications
services to our networks. Technological advances have played a big part in
this growth. Technology, however, has
changed who determines what goes
over the network. In the past, we decided what
our networks were used for; now, our customers
decide what they want delivered to their homes,
businesses and mobile devices.
Today, we are still pioneers, and we are still
providing telecommunications in areas the larger
companies deem less financially desirable. Yet,
through our networks, our customers can reach
every corner of the globe, picking and choosing
which broadband applications and resources they
wish to use. We are pioneers that must determine
a new direction for our industry.
Just as we came together in the past, we must
now come together to explore telecommunications’ future. As individual companies, we each
must find our own solutions, but together we
can achieve great things and use our strength in
numbers to influence our destiny.

Mike Osborne
Chairman, OPASTCO

1963–2013

n


7

OPASTCO n 50th Anniversary

OPASTCO
Acknowledgements
Ron Laudner, Chairman

OmniTel Communications

Brenda Cordwell

Mike Osborne

John Staurulakis Inc.

Ace Communications

Mark Gailey

R. Craig Smith

Totah Communications

MGW Telephone

John Granger

Ben Spearman

Mapcom Systems

Comporium

Arturo “Archie” Macias

Wheat State Telephone Company

Manny Staurulakis

John Staurulakis Inc.

OPASTCO Staff
Amanda Casey
Caroline O’Reilly
Kathleen Kelley Riesett
John N. Rose
Martha K. Silver

OPASTCO 50th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet
Researched and written by Martha K. Silver
Designed by Sharri Harris Wolfgang, AURAS Design
Sources for the OPASTCO 50th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet include the
OPASTCO 40th Anniversary Commemorative Booklet, the OPASTCO 25th Anniversary Commemorative
Booklet, OPASTCO Board of Directors meeting minutes, OPASTCO filings and press releases,
OPASTCO Roundtable magazine, The Washington Weekly Report, OPASTCO Advocate, OPASTCO 411,
and multiple sources found on the World Wide Web, including, the Telecommunications History Group,
Aronsson’s Telecom History Timeline, NASA and Wikipedia. Most product shots are from respective
manufacturers. Some historic product shots from Max’s Museum at www.az-apco-nena.org.
Archie and Veronica are copyrighted by Archie Comic Publications, Inc.

8


n

1963–2013

Power & Tel Congratulates
OPASTCO for 50 Years of
Commitment to the Rural
Telecom Industry.

W

ith five decades as your source for the products needed to build and maintain your
network, Power & Tel celebrates the importance of rural telecommunications and is proud
to have served as a supply chain partner for OPASTCO members for those 50 years.
Please visit Power & Tel booth 515/517 at the
Rural Telecom Industry Meeting and Expo.

Contact (800) 238-7514 | www.ptsupply.com | marketing@ptsupply.com

OPASTCO:

Connecting

10


n

1963–2013

50 years of

Communities
For the past 50 years, OPASTCO’s members have been a driving force
in the connection of rural communities, people and member companies. OPASTCO
was born when a community of like-minded rural telephone companies and suppliers
got together to brainstorm solutions to the Schedule B toll settlements average
schedule formula. As these pioneering individuals realized that they had common
challenges that they could solve together, their community grew bigger.
As the OPASTCO community grew and more independent telephone companies saw the value of sharing
information, networking and collaborating to solve
problems, more connections were made. OPASTCO
members worked together on task-specific committees, they met at conventions to share ideas and make
new professional connections, and they worked to
ensure that their communities enjoyed high-quality
services that connected them beyond their rural
communities’ borders.

Keeping Rural America Connected
Just as Keeping Rural America Connected was the
title of a groundbreaking 2004 OPASTCO study on
toll de-averaging that significantly influenced law
makers crafting the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
it truly has been OPASTCO’s mission to keep rural
America’s communities connected. In the early years
of OPASTCO, the crucial work was to ensure telco
members fared well in a world of regulation and the
Bell system. In more recent years, OPASTCO recognized the need to position members for a world where
all communications are broadband and telecommunications companies must stay ahead of their customers’
demands.

Making Connections, Sharing Knowledge
During the past 50 years, one of OPASTCO’s strengths
has been its ability to bring together rural telephone
company owners and managers. Often residing in
remote locations where they have little opportunity to
network with fellow telecommunications rofessionals,
p
OPASTCO’s twice-annual meetings have been an
important vehicle for knowledge-sharing and problemsolving. At OPASTCO conventions, members have
learned how others are making strategic decisions to
prepare their companies for the future, have explored
new business opportunities, and have brainstormed
ideas that have been industry innovations realized.
These achievements occurred because OPASTCO
c
onnected members in an environment of fellowship
and community, where opinions are respected and
ideas are appreciated.

Committees as Communities
Since its earliest days in 1963, OPASTCO has been a
member-run organization. In the spirit of community, OPASTCO members volunteer to participate on
committees that run the association. Some committees
make management decisions, while others develop
high-level policy positions, and others provide educa-

1963–2013

n


11

OPASTCO n Timeline

Our industry’s rich history is a history
tional services and knowledge-based
of people—OPASTCO members—
resources. The committees are the
who made commitments to volunteer
heart and soul of the association, and
their time and their resources for the
every significant action OPASTCO
betterment of our companies and
has taken has been based on member
communities in rural America.
input and direction.
If you ever served on an
Over the years, OPASTCO comOPASTCO committee, thank you for
mittees have come and gone. Some
your service. Whether the task was
committees are created for short-term,
big or small, your active participation
ad hoc issues; committee members
on an OPASTCO committee made a
research an issue and make a recomThe Separations & Access Committee
difference and moved our industry
mendation to the board. Other commeets in Calgary, during the 2004
forward.
mittees are long-term working groups
Summer Convention.
that help mold telecom policy, oversee
OPASTCO has made significant accomplishments;
OPASTCO’s financial operations, plan conventions, create
the timeline on the following pages tells a story of an
marketing resources, and a host of other valuable services.
industry and its association growing and evolving. History
OPASTCO committees are our true connections
listed below the year is OPASTCO history; history listed
between our community of companies and our association.
above the year shows telecommunications and technology
As you read through the timeline of OPASTCO history,
events that ultimately changed the telephone industry of
the association’s actions and achievements, please take a
our grandfathers and brought new business opportunities
moment to recognize that every step of the way, members
were involved—on the board level, committee level or both. to rural telecommunications.

OPASTCO Committees Through the Years
Executive Committee
Associate Member Committee
Average Schedule Committee
Awards Committee
Building Search Committee
Bylaws Committee
CATV Cross-ownership Committee
CLEC Committee
Dues Structure Committee
Education Committee
EVP Search Committee
Finance Committee
Industry Relations Committee

Insurance Committee
ISP Committee
Junk Fax Calls/900 Calls Committee
L&R Conference Committee
Legislative and Regulatory Committee
Legislative Policy Committee
Membership Committee
Marketing Committee
Marketing/PR Committee
Mobile Wireless Committee
Nominating Committee, Directors
Nominating Committee, Officers
Operator Services Committee
President’s/Chairman’s Award Committee

Public Relations Committee
Radio, Cellular, BETRs & PCN Committee
REA/Rural Development Committee
Regulatory Policy Committee
ROSS 7 Committee
RUS Committee
Separations & Access Committee
Site Selection Committee
Speaker’s Bureau Committee
Standards Committee
Tradeshow Committee
Technical Committee
Unification Leadership Committee
Video and Broadband Committee

Ad-Hoc Committees
Board Expense Committee
Board Membership Committee
Cellular Committee

12


n

1963–2013

Future Committee
Lifetime Membership Dues Committee
Marketing OPASTCO Committee
Membership Survey Committee
Mini MBA Program Committee

Modified Final Judgment Issues Committee
National Branding Committee
Technology Input Committee
Toll De-averaging Study Committee
Universal Service Committee

OPASTCO n Timeline

p SAGE, the Semi-Automatic Ground

Environment, is the first large computer
network to provide man-machine interaction
in “real time.” Each computer in the 27-center
system contained more than 50,000 vacuum
tubes, weighing 250 tons and occupying an
acre of floor space.

■■Motorola develops the first rectangular

picture tube for color television in a joint
venture with National Video Corporation. The
tube quickly becomes the standard for the
industry. q

u American Airlines’
travel reservation
system SABRE,
developed by IBM, links
2,000 online terminals
via phone lines.
■■Gordon Moore

suggests that integrated
circuits would double in
complexity every year.
This later becomes known
as Moore’s Law. u

1964

p The transistorized Pageboy pager, supplied

to AT&T under the name Bellboy, is the first
personal communications device to become a
standard tool for business and industry.

■■A new average schedule is developed.

1965
■■ OPASTCO

1963
■■ Representatives

of 12 telephone
companies and seven manufacturing
companies meet in Memphis,
Tennessee, to discuss their
dissatisfaction with the Schedule B
toll settlements average schedule
formula. The “Memphis Plan Group”
begins a small telephone company
industry effort that within 10 months
would formally be known as the
Organization for the Protection and
Advancement of Small Telephone
Companies (OPASTCO).

p OPASTCO is formally created
and holds its first general membership
meeting. Later in the year, the certificate
of incorporation of OPASTCO as a
Delaware corporation is signed.

formally resolves to
create an associate membership
category with a formal dues
structure so that a variety of
suppliers to the independent
telephone company industry may
participate as members. Prior to this
resolution, only certain suppliers
were invited to participate in the
association.

■■ OPASTCO

has 39 paid members,
including both telephone companies
and suppliers.

1963–2013

n


13

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■The United States counts its 100 millionth

fixed telephone line.

■■IBM builds the first floppy disk.

 IBM introduces the first disk storage

system, the IBM RAMAC 305. It holds
5 MB of data on 50 2-foot wide platters.

1966

p The world’s first scientific desktop

calculator, the HP 9100, is introduced by
Hewlett-Packard.

■■The first Consumer

Electronics Show
is held in
New York City.

■■ The FCC adopts the Carterfone Decision,

striking down existing interstate telephone
tariffs prohibiting attachment of connection to
the public telephone system of any equipment
or device that was not supplied by the
telephone companies.

■■Motorola

launches its
Quasar television,
America’s first
all-transistor color
television set. u

■■The Group 1 standard for facsimile trans-

1967

first headquarters are
located in Jackson, Tennessee.

President Fred McGehee
testifies before the House Agriculture
Committee on the formation
of the Rural
Electrification
Administration’s
(REA) Rural
Telephone Bank.
McGehee testifies
in favor of the
Bank bill, saying
it would provide
necessary financing
to independent
companies in rural
America. u

■■ OPASTCO’s

■■ Over

mission over the public switched telephone
network (PSTN) is issued; transmitting an
8 ½ x 11" size page takes six minutes.

1968

■■ OPASTCO

 Jim Blackhall becomes

OPASTCO’s first executive vice
president. He takes a leave of absence
from ITT-Telecommunications
to dedicate full-time attention to
OPASTCO. His role is to increase
membership and serve the needs of the
association’s members. Blackhall drives
from town to town recruiting members
across rural America.
■■ OPASTCO’s

first official publication,
“Member Letter,” is launched. The
monthly publication covers the activities
of the OPASTCO board, members,
executive vice president and industry.
■■ Telephone

company involvement
in cable television and private
financing are the focus of OPASTCO’s
third annual meeting.

■■ By

the end of 1966, OPASTCO has
close to 100 telephone company
members.

14


n

1963–2013

concern about an increase
in mergers and acquisitions of small
telephone companies, OPASTCO
presents education sessions on property
and casualty insurance, tax planning
and antitrust laws at its annual fall
meeting.

■■ For

the first time, OPASTCO’s board
goes on the record to recognize that the
existing three independent telephone
associations, OPASTCO, the National
Telephone Cooperative Association
(NTCA) and the United States
Independent Telephone Association
(USITA), should work together when
possible.

■■ OPASTCO

begins working on behalf
of its members on a growing problem
with extended area service (EAS)
settlements.

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■CompuServe Information Service launches in

Columbus, Ohio, as a computer time-sharing
service.

■■Corning announces it has successfully made

■■Intel announces a 1 kilobit RAM chip,

a quartz glass fiber useful for long distance
communication.

which has a significantly larger capacity
than any previously produced
memory chip.

■■The Advanced Research Projects Agency

Network (ARPAnet) is the first packet
switching network and the progenitor to the
Internet. One node is added to the ARPAnet
each month.

■■Man walks on moon. Astronaut

Neil Armstrong’s first words
from the moon are relayed
to Earth by a Motorola radio
transponder aboard the Apollo 11
lunar module. The transponder
provides telemetry, tracking,
two-way voice communications
and television signal transmissions
between Earth and the moon. u

■■The world’s first digital telephony system is

installed in Lannison, France.

■■The FCC announces its plans for regulating

the cable television industry.

1969
■■ OPASTCO

files its first petition
with the FCC, asking the Commission
to reject ATT’s revisions to its long
distance message telecommunications
service tariff. OPASTCO argues that the
proposed rate reductions and revisions
were determined by the FCC and the
Bell System “without any consideration
of the operation and earning
requirements of the other participating
independent telephone companies,”
many of which would be adversely
affected by the changes. This petition
establishes OPASTCO’s position of
opposing negotiations between ATT
and the FCC at the exclusion of small
companies.

■■ OPASTCO

members lobby their
senators to support a bill to establish
a federal-state joint board at the
FCC.

q At the Fall Annual Meeting,
OPASTCO members learn about
the impact of cable television and
interconnection on independent
telephone companies, the trend in
independent telephone company
acquisition, and the role of the
Rural Electrification Administration
(REA) in the telephone industry.

1970
■■ OPASTCO

joins the
“Telephone Group, a
”
number of companies and
organizations that, at the
request of the FCC, join to
speak for the interests of
the independent telephone
industry. William Corman
is appointed as OPASTCO’s
representative. u

■■ OPASTCO

forms an Extended Area
Service (EAS) Committee to gather
information and unite OPASTCO
members against inequitable
settlements procedures, and a Resource
Committee to assist small companies
that believe they must sell their
businesses.

■■ Roland

Nehring writes a series of
articles, “Televalues, to help members
”
in the valuation of their companies for
purposes of estate planning, federal
taxes, or proposed mergers and sales.

■■ As

part of the Telephone Group,
OPASTCO works on the Ozark Plan,
which allocates a significantly greater
portion of the costs of local plant to
interstate jurisdiction. This reduces
the local revenue requirement that has
to be recovered through local rates.
This increase in revenues allows many
independent telephone companies to
make major upgrades to their rural
networks.

1963–2013

n


15

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■The Rural Telephone Bank is created and

signed into law.

■■Direct telephone dialing, as opposed to

operator assisted calling, begins between
parts of the U.S. and Europe.
t IBM introduces the

“memory disk,” or “floppy
disk,” an 8-inch floppy plastic
disk coated with iron oxide.
■■Intel develops the

4004 microprocessor, the
world’s first computer on a chip, performing
60,000 operations per second and able to
address 640 bytes of memory.
■■The ARPAnet has 19 connected nodes.

1971
■■ OPASTCO

holds its first ever
winter meeting, delaying its annual
meeting from September 1970 to
January 1971. At the annual meeting,
the membership votes down the
proposal to change OPASTCO’s
name to the “National Association of
Telephone Company Owners.”

■■ President

Richard Nixon
appoints 11 directors to the
Rural Telephone Bank, including
two OPASTCO members: the
current OPASTCO Second Vice
Chairman Jean Brandli of Coosa
Valley Telephone Co. in Alabama,
and Glenn Bergland of Winnebago
Cooperative Telephone Association
in Iowa.

■■ Leadership

at the National
Telephone Cooperative Association
approaches OPASTCO’s leadership
about the possible merger or
federation of the two associations.

p Atari is founded by Nolan Bushnell and

ships Pong, the first commercial video game.

■■Hewlett-Packard introduces the world’s first

handheld scientific calculator, the HP 35.

■■5.25 inch diskettes/floppy disks first appear.
■■Steve Wozniak, later cofounder of Apple,

builds a “blue box” tone generator that cancels
the toll ticketing in ATT’s long distance
network.

■■ITT launches its first installation of a stored

program computer-controlled automatic
telephone exchange, the Metaconta system.

1972
■■ After

developing a committee
to address a possible federation of
OPASTCO and NTCA, the OPASTCO
board, later in the year, passes a
resolution emphasizing “the desire of
OPASTCO to retain its own identity
and autonomy.
”

■■ OPASTCO

President William Ditto
appears before the Price Board in
Washington, D.C., and testifies that
small telephone companies receive
adequate regulation and should be
exempt from further federal price
regulation.

■■ OPASTCO

EVP
Jim Blackhall
retires, and John
Reynolds, u
publisher of
Telephone Engineer
and Management
magazine, takes over
as executive vice
president.

■■ OPASTCO

establishes a
Cable Television
Committee.

■■ OPASTCO

begins
publishing its first
magazine, Telco
Digest. u

16


n

1963–2013

p NASA launches Skylab I.
■■Motorola researcher Martin Cooper makes

the first handheld mobile phone call to his
rival, Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.

■■The Ethernet is first described in a doctoral

student’s PhD thesis.

■■The first international connections to

ARPAnet are created in England and Norway.

■■The New York Times Information Service

provides online search of six databases via
telephone access.

1973
membership grows to
203 telephone company and 27 supplier
members.

■■ OPASTCO

u Dorothy

Sietsema is
added to the
OPASTCO staff
as the executive
assistant.

■■ OPASTCO

Director William Ditto
presents a statement to the Rural
Telephone Bank concerning legislation
to change the Rural Electrification
Act. Ditto reiterates
OPASTCO’s position against
the recent action ending
two percent REA loans to
the Rural Telephone Bank.
OPASTCO urges its members
to support the House version
of the Humphrey-Akins Bill
calling for re-establishment of
the frozen REA funds.

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■ATT installs its first digital telephone
■■The FCC adopts rules to allow manufac-

■■First Use of term “Internet” appears in a

conference paper by Vinton Cerf and Bob
Kahn.

turers to sell equipment for connection to
the telephone network if they demonstrate
to the Commission that the equipment does
no harm.

■■The Group 2 standard for facsimile trans-

■■IBM introduces the IBM 5100 portable

■■The FCC rules that a portion of the TV

data each day.

computer, having 16 kB RAM expandable to
64 kB, priced between $8,975 and $19,975,
featuring the IBM 5100 data cartridge tape,
storing 204 kB on 300 feet of 1/4 inch tape.

■■The U.S. Department of Justice files an

■■Microsoft is founded by Bill Gates, age 19,

■■The ARPAnet moves 3 million packets of

antitrust suit against ATT. The suit will not
be settled until January 1982, when ATT
agrees to divest itself of the wholly owned
Bell operating companies that provided local
exchange service.

and Paul Allen, age 22, in Gates’ dorm room
at Harvard. Its first product is BASIC, a simple
programming language. 

q Intel receives a patent for a “memory

system for a multichip digital computer.”

1 9 74
■■ OPASTCO

begins publishing a
monthly newsletter, “OPASTCO’s
Newsletter.
”

■■ OPASTCO

studies the need
for representation on the USITA
Separations and Settlements
Committee.

switch.

mission over PSTN is issued, transmitting a
page in only 3 minutes; scanning density is
100 lines per inch.
signal can be used for teletext.

■■Retail chain Radio Shack begins making

plans to develop and sell a microcomputer.

■■Steve Jobs and Steve

Wozniak incorporate Apple
Computer and introduce the
Apple I as a kit. It is based on
the 1 MHz Mostek 6502 CPU,
with 8 kB RAM expandable
to 32 kB, and optional floppy.
Priced at $666.66. u

1 9 76
1975
■■ OPASTCO

forms a committee to
explore how the association can secure
representation in Washington, D.C.

■■ OPASTCO

President Glenn Bergland
announces plans to schedule a meeting
of the national telephone trade
associations to discuss the formation
of the National Telecommunications
Coordinating Council. Consisting
of OPASTCO, USITA, NTCA and the
National REA Telephone Association
(NREATA), the council would function
on an informal basis to study and
develop workable solutions in areas of
common concern.

p OPASTCO elects Arne Haynes
as its representative to the
USITA Telephone Separations and
Settlements Task Force and names
a five-member backup committee to
assist him. Haynes takes a seven-month
leave of absence from his telephone
company to move to the East Coast to
assist in the development of a database,
which is instrumental to the telephone
industry.
■■ The

Consumer Communications
Reform Act (CCRA) is introduced in
Congress. OPASTCO lobbies Capitol
Hill to protect rural customers from
the impact of competition. OPASTCO
produces a brochure explaining the
possible ramifications of the FCC
decisions on the future course of
telecommunications.
1963–2013

n


17

OPASTCO n Timeline

t Philips and Sony
unveil the music CD.
■■Federal and
regulatory policymakers
allow the REA to lend to
telephone companies for cable
TV operations.
■■Hayes begins to sell the first commercial
■■Northern Telecom introduces its DMS line

of digital switches.

■■Radio Shack introduces the Tandy TRS-80

personal computer.

■■An experimental Motorola cellular phone

system designed to employ both portable and
vehicular phones begins construction in the
neighboring cities of Washington, D.C., and
Baltimore, Maryland.

p Photographs of Saturn taken by Voyager 1

are returned to Earth over a distance of
1 billion miles. Voyagers 1 and 2 use Motorola
equipment as their primary communications
link with Earth during their 12-year tour of the
solar system.

■■Dow Jones opens Dow Jones News/

Retrieval. It provides access to a database of
Wall Street Journal articles and information
on publicly held companies.

1977
■■ OPASTCO

continues to track
legislative proposals to address
competition in the telecommunications
arena and play an active role in
presenting the concerns of small
independent telephone companies to
members of Congress.
Reynolds, OPASTCO’s
executive vice president, loses his battle
with cancer.

■■ John

■■ The

“Younger Generation Program”
is launched to provide support and
advice to those contemplating taking
over the family business. 

■■ Executive

Assistant Dorothy
Sietsema assumes all OPASTCO
administrative duties from her home in
Wheaton, Illinois.

■■ Four

OPASTCO members meet
at the White House with
a member of President
Carter’s Domestic Council
to discuss telecommunications.
The OPASTCO representatives
discuss the problems faced by
small companies and a report
of their concerns is submitted
to the President.

modem, capable of 300 baud.

■■Apple introduces the Apple II, the first

computer in a beige plastic case and first to
display color graphics. Priced at $1,298.

■■Ward Christensen and Randy Seuss launch a

computer bulletin board system in Chicago.

■■IBM introduces the IBM 5110 computer,

having 16 kB RAM expandable to 64 kB, and
diskette storage.

1978
■■ OPASTCO

hires the services of
Washington consultant Nicholas
Miller, on a part-time basis, to
help represent the association in
Washington, D.C.
 OPASTCO

Director Glenn
Bergland testifies
before the House
Communications
Subcommittee on the
Communications Act
of 1978. Bergland
urges legislators
to be aware of the
specific needs of
rural companies
as competition is
introduced into the
common carrier market. OPASTCO
members also participate in regional
hearings on the legislation, and the
small telephone company provision of
broadband services becomes a major
part of the bill.
■■ OPASTCO

representatives participate
in the FCC’s hearings on ATT’s
Exchange Network Facilities for
Interstate Access (ENFIA) tariff. By
fall, a memorandum of understanding
is reached specifying a basis for
agreeing on the interim charges for
interstate carrier settlements to the local
exchange plant.

18


n

1963–2013

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■A digital facsimile transmission over PSTN

transmits a page of text in less than one
minute with a scanning resolution of 200
lines per inch.

■■The FCC issues its Computer Inquiry II

decision, which differentiates between basic
and enhanced services. Basic services require
regulation.

■■IBM begins assembling a team to design the

PC, including Microsoft for the creation of an
operating system.

p Motorola introduces its first 16-bit

microprocessor, the MC68000. Capable
of completing two million calculations per
second, it is used both to run and to write
programs for scientific, data processing and
business applications.

■■The VCR is introducted by Matsushita.

40,000 U.S. homes will have one within
a year.

■■ OPASTCO

testifies seven different
times on Capitol Hill addressing
toll settlement charges, REA, terminal
equipment and cable television.

■■ The

Rural Telephone Coalition
is created by OPASTCO, NTCA and
NREATA.

■■ OPASTCO

appoints a committee to
investigate establishing a Washington,
D.C., headquarters and forms
OPASTCO LAP (legislative action
plan), a program designed to provide
complete coverage of members’
legislators, both at home and in
Washington.

■■National Science Foundation backbone

goes up to connect U.S. universities to the
ARPAnet.

■■Chemical Bank begins trials of Pronto, a

space shuttle
Columbia. u

■■Usenet newsgroups communicate between

1979

to exempt some rural
areas from the cable
television cross-ownership
restrictions.

■■The first flight of NASA’s

programs, WordStar and dBase II, hit the
market.

■■July 11, Skylab falls to Earth.

■■The FCC adopts rules

telebanking service, in 200 New York homes.
It goes commercial in late 1983 as part of
Covidea.

■■Two extremely successful early PC software

the University of North Carolina (UNC) and
Duke University.

u President Ronald Regan
attempts to slash the REA
budget.

p The video game Pac-Man is released.
■■The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio becomes

the first newspaper to offer an electronic
edition via CompuServe, which has 3,600
total subscribers.

1980
■■ OPASTCO

elects its first woman
president, Eleanor Haskin of
Waitsfield-Fayston Telephone Co.
monthly newsletter is
revamped and relaunched as News
Digest.

1981

■■ OPASTCO’s

■■ At the OPASTCO convention, Ivo
Bauman of Mt. Angel Telephone
Company and Eugene Cole of Canby
Cooperative, brainstorm together and
come up with the formation of U.S.
Intelco Networks to manage the
credit-card calling database. OPASTCO
members are invited to join.
■■ OPASTCO

opens
a Washington, D.C.,
office and names
James G. Mercer
as OPASTCO’s
new executive vice
president. u

■■ With

the introduction of the
Telecommunications Competition
and Deregulation Act of 1981,
OPASTCO addresses the small
company perspective on toll settlement
charges, universal service, cable
television, terminal equipment
deregulation and service deregulation
on Capitol Hill. Many of the concerns
of OPASTCO and the Rural Telephone
Coalition eventually are amended into
the legislation.

■■ OPASTCO

retains the services of
Washington, D.C., law firm Fager and
Singer.

1963–2013

n


19

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■Commodore

Computer
announces the
Commodore 64.
It has 64 kB of
RAM, sound and
color graphics when
hooked to a color TV.
Priced at $600. u

t Time magazine names no “Man of the

Year.” Instead, the computer is dubbed
“Machine of the Year.”

■■ARPAnet begins using TCP/IP.
■■The largest U.S. online services are

■■The FCC closes its investigation into its

Dow Jones, with 90,000 users, CompuServe,
with 63,000 users, and The Source, with
36,000 users.

proposed access charge system and prepares
to release its decision.

■■Hewlett-Packard introduces the HP 9000

workstation, “the first desktop mainframe.”

1983

■■Eleven U.S. newspapers begin daily

transmission of “electronic versions” via
CompuServe, which now has 10,000
subscribers.

■■Compaq Computer Corporation is founded.

The first product is an IBM PC clone portable
personal computer able to run all the software
being developed for the IBM PC.

■■The United States Justice Department

announces a consent decree has been
reached, in which ATT agrees to divest itself
of the wholly owned Bell operating companies
that provide local exchange service.

1982
■■ OPASTCO

and the Rural Telephone
Coalition meet with Justice Department
officials to discuss the effect the
breakup of the Bell Systems would
have on independents.

■■ OPASTCO

holds its first
tradeshow at its summer convention
in Dearborn, Michigan. At this
convention, attendees are read a
personal note of welcome from
President Ronald Reagan and watch
a videotaped greeting from Vice
President George Bush.

20


n

1963–2013

■■ With

small companies having only
40 days from the FCC’s access charge
ruling to decide whether or not
they would concur with the access
tariff filings of the Exchange Carrier
Association, OPASTCO holds regional
access charge workshops to assist its
members. The FCC decision includes
many of the safeguards OPASTCO
and the Rural Telephone Coalition had
sought to ensure cost recovery and
continued service in rural America.
■■ OPASTCO

Past President Evan
Copsey testifies before a joint hearing
of the Senate and House committees
to testify in support of legislative
proposals that would address
universal service and reverse the
FCC’s access charge ruling. 

■■ OPASTCO

celebrates its 20th
anniversary at its summer meeting
at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis,
Tennessee. The theme of the meeting is
“An Exciting Future—A Proud Past.”

■■ Four

OPASTCO members are elected
to the Exchange Carrier Association’s
board of subset 3 directors: Ivo
Bauman, Warren French, Arne Haynes
and Alan Pedersen. Rather than join
the ECA tariff, several OPASTCO
members file their own billing and
collection tariff as SETCO, Small
Exchange Telephone Companies.

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■The $1 end-user access charge goes into

■■The divestiture of ATT marks the end

effect on June 1.

of the Bell System. In its place is a new
ATT and seven regional telephone holding
companies.

■■The National Exchange Carrier Association

is created to administer fees long distance
carriers pay to access local telephone
networks.

p Gateway Computers is founded. Located

in rural America, its mission is to sell more
affordable personal computers.

■■Philips and Sony introduce the CD-ROM, an

optical disk that can store very large amounts
of digital data.

■■The Internet connects 2,000 hosts.

1985
■■ OPASTCO

p Michael Dell founds Dell, selling personal

computers by mail order.

■■Compaq introduces its first desktop, the

Compaq Deskpro. Its first year revenues are
$111.2 million—a U.S. business record. The
company shipped more than 53,000 portable
PCs.

■■CompuServe charges 13 cents per minute

daytime and 10 cents at night for its online
service. Dow Jones is $1.20 daytime and 20
cents at night.

p In its famous Superbowl commercial,
Apple introduces the Macintosh based on
the 8 MHz Motorola MC68000 CPU, 16 bit
datapath, 64 kB ROM, 128 kB RAM, built-in
400 kB 3.5 floppy, built-in 9 monitor,
BW graphics screen, and 8 bit mono sound.
Priced at $2,495. Within 75 days, 50,000
are sold.

1984
■■ FCC

Chairman Mark Fowler
addresses the OPASTCO convention to
report on the access charge issue.

■■ OPASTCO

members vote at the
annual meeting to increase OPASTCO’s
eligibility for independent telephone
companies with less than 25,000 access
lines to those with less than 50,000
access lines.

■■ OPASTCO

and NTCA begin
discussing the benefits of merging
to create the “American Rural
Telecommunications Association.
”
Later in the year, both boards approve
a resolution to move forward with
the merger and a vote is planned
for the next annual meeting of the
memberships.

■■ OPASTCO and the RTC form an
industry study group to assist the
FCC in its decision on alternatives
for the access charge plan and the
Universal Service Fund.

advocates on behalf
of small, rural telephone companies
for policies formed in the creation
of the National Exchange Carrier
Association, the organization created
to administer access charges paid by
long distance carriers.

members vote down
the proposed merger with NTCA
to create the “American Rural
Telecommunications Association.”
The vote is 143 members against the
proposal and 94 members in favor.
Two days prior to the vote, OPASTCO
Executive Vice President Jim Mercer
submits his resignation to the board.
■■ As

EAS issues heat up again,
OPASTCO files a petition with
the FCC asking for a more equitable
division of revenues.
u Andrew Mulitz is

appointed OPASTCO’s new
executive vice president.
Previously, Mulitz joined
the OPASTCO staff as a
law clerk in early 1984 and
served as acting VP after
Mercer’s resignation.

q The new OPASTCO logo is
introduced.

■■ OPASTCO

■■ OPASTCO

advocates on behalf
of its members on issues including
the rewrite of the Uniform System
of Accounts, ATT’s plans to take
over its own billing services, equal
access requirements for independents,
increased regulatory activity at the
state level, rate of return changes and
telecommunications trade problems.

■■ OPASTCO’s

Telco Digest newsletter
begins distribution as a weekly
newsletter.
1963–2013

n


21

OPASTCO n Timeline
■■The first fiber optic cable is laid across the

Atlantic Ocean.

■■New York Times photographers use a

Macintosh and 9600 bps modem to send
Dodgers-Mets photos from L.A. to New York.

■■Intel launches its 386SX microprocessor,

capable of addressing 4 GB of memory.

p Microsoft ships the 1 millionth copy of

Windows.

■■The first Subscriber Line Charge goes into

p The United States Supreme Court

rules, preventing the FCC’s pre-emption of
depreciation for intrastate ratemaking.

effect. It is $.60. It increases to $3.50 over a
three-year period.


1987

■■The FCC adopts a proposal for the

separation of joint costs between regulated
and non-regulated activities of telephone
companies.

p Hewlett-Packard introduces the Deskjet

printer, HP’s first mass-market inkjet printer,
offering plain-paper printing and industrystandard print resolution.

1988

■■The five NSF supercomputing centers are

connected by a 56 kB backbone network.
This sparks an evolution of regional
networks around each center.

t John Rose

replaces
Andrew Mulitz
as OPASTCO
executive vice
president.

■■Congress passes the 1986 Computer

Fraud and Abuse Act.

1986
■■ OPASTCO

files jointly with the REA,
USTA, NRTA and NTCA asking the
FCC to allocate radio frequency for
Basic Exchange Telecommunications
Radio (BETR) service as an alternative
to wire local loops in remote areas.
Board members vote
to support Unity 1-A, the industry
agreement recommending changes in
the Universal Service Fund, subscriber
line charges, and other non-traffic
sensitive cost issues.

u OPASTCO

■■ OPASTCO

p OPASTCO lobbies Capitol Hill to
allow CoBank to make loans to the
telecommunications industry.
■■ The

U.S. Justice Department releases
its long-awaited recommendations to
ease the Modified Final Judgment
(MFJ) restrictions on ATT.
OPASTCO advocates on behalf of
small, rural carriers and is pleased
when the MFJ restrictions are, for the
most part, maintained.

■■ The

OPASTCO Benefit Trust is
created.

22


n

1963–2013

launches a new
bi-monthly
magazine,
OPASTCO
Roundtable.

■■ The

OPASTCO Board of Directors
votes to establish the Fund for Rural
Education and Development
(FRED).

OPASTCO n Timeline

t Quantum Link, which provided a

dedicated online service for Apple,
parts ways with Apple and rebrands
as America Online, a walledgarden online service available
for Apple and PC owners.

■■The World Wide Web is invented when

Tim Berners Lee proposes the introduction
of a networked hypertext system.

■■Prodigy begins rolling out an online service

in various metro areas. Pricing is unique—a
flat rate of $9.95 per month plus a $49.95
start-up kit. It also sells modems for $100.
By the end of the year, Prodigy has 100,000
customers in households in eight major
metro areas.

■■Compaq introduces its first notebook PC,

the Compaq LTE.

1989
■■ OPASTCO

holds its first
Legislative
and Regulatory
Conference.
Fund for
Rural Education
and Development
(FRED) begins
operations.

■■The NSFnet finally allows internetwork

p NASA launches the Hubble space

telescope.

■■The FCC lowers the rate-of-return (ROR)

for local exchange carriers from 12 percent to
11.25 percent.

■■Motorola unveils the Iridium System

low-Earth orbit satellite concept for global
personal communications.

■■The ARPAnet is formally closed, having

been replaced by NSFnet and interconnected
networks. The era of the Internet begins.

■■A large part of ATT’s telephone network

crashes from a software bug.

1990
t OPASTCO begins
development of its
PR Idea Kit.

■■ The

■■ OPASTCO

builds a strong
relationship with the National State
Telephone Executives Association.
OPASTCO President John Rose begins
to speak 8 to 10 times each year at
various state association meetings.

■■ OPASTCO First Vice President
Margaret Goacher testifies before
the Senate Agriculture Committee in
support of REA. q

■■ OPASTCO
creates the
Average Schedule
Committee to help
members obtain more
participation in the average schedule
process.
■■ OPASTCO

advocates on its members’
behalf for a rural exemption for cable
television cross ownership, tariffs and
FCC audits.

routing with commercial networks. The
NSFnet backbone is completely upgraded to
T3 speed (45 MB).

■■Bell Labs develops photonic switching.
■■The Internet connects 600,000 hosts in

more than 100 countries.

1991
■■ OPASTCO

resolves to make
technology deployment and small
company input at various industry
meetings critical to the association’s
mission.

■■ OPASTCO

advocates for its
members on potential loss of rate-ofreturn replaced by price caps for all
local exchange carriers, NECA pooling,
REA, spectrum auctions and cable
television cross-ownership rules.

■■ OPASTCO

President
Don Bond testifies before
the House Agriculture
Subcommittee on
Conservation, Credit and
Rural Development in
support of REA. u

■■ OPASTCO’s Annual Winter
Convention in Lake Buena Vista,
Florida, has more than 800 registrants,
a record-breaking number of
attendees.

p OPASTCO Director Louise
Brown testifies before the House
Appropriations Committee in support
of REA.
1963–2013

n


23

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■ The first digital mobile

network is established in
the U.S.

■■First text message sent

phone to phone occurs in
Finland. u

1993

Veronica, a search service for Gopher is
released by University of Nevada. (The name
is a pun on Archie, the file transfer protocol
search service. Archie and Veronica appear in
the same comic strip.)

p

advocates on a wide
range of issues, including 800 database,
transport rate structure, PCS, cable
television, collocation, spectrum
auctions and infrastructure.

■■ OPASTCO

■■The Multicast Backbone (MBONE) for the

first time carries audio and video.

■■The Internet connects one million hosts. u

1992
■■ The

FCC creates the Network
Reliability Council and invites
OPASTCO to represent small, rural
local exchange carriers on this new
technical advisory group. OPASTCO
member Warren French of Shenandoah
Telephone Company becomes
OPASTCO’s first voting representative
to the group.
■■ OPASTCO

works on a broad range
of regulatory and legislative issues
ranging from taxes to access, universal
service, cable television issues and
personal communications services.

■■ Crossing

the United States in a
route that covers more than 13,600
miles, the OPASTCO staff and
driver Lou Bilodeau, retired from
Northern Telecom, visit more than
70 companies in 40 states. Each stop
along the OPASTCO Van Tour brings
OPASTCO staff, local telephone
companies and their customers together
to tell the story of small, independent
telephone companies and their crucial
role in rural communities. The Van
Tour finishes in Washington, D.C., with
the celebration of OPASTCO’s first
Small Telephone Company Week on
Capitol Hill. q

■■ Small

Telephone Company Week’s
name is changed to National Small
Independent Telephone Company
Week.

■■ Don

Bond and Bob Halford lead the
“Keeping Rural America Connected”
toll de-averaging study project
and paper. The group working on this
important effort develop the concept,
fundraise to cover the study’s costs,
perform research and economic
analysis of the data, and draft the final
paper. The study’s consultants are
Manny Staurulakis and Patricia Lum;
OPASTCO staff coordinating the effort
are John Rose and Linda Buckley. The
data collected from this study has a
profound and positive effect on rural
telecommunications policymaking by
members of Congress as they work
through 1994 and 1995 to draft the
Telecommunications Act of 1996.

p OPASTCO sends six delegates
to Finland to study that country’s
independent telephone companies,
their innovations and regulatory
policies. Results of that fact-finding
mission are shared with the OPASTCO
membership.
24


n

1963–2013

OPASTCO n Timeline
■■The Independent Telephone and

Telecommunications Alliance is formed to
represent mid-sized telephone companies.
ITTA is open to companies with 50,000
access lines or more, up through the size of
GTE.

■■Yahoo! opens service from the Stanford

office of two graduate students.

■■The FCC begins RF spectrum auctions.
■■America Online reaches one million

members.

■■REA is renamed the Rural Utilities Service

(RUS).

■■Bells Labs develops Wavelength Division

Multiplexing (WDM), which tremendously
increases the capacity of optic fiber as a
carrier of data.

■■“Cable modems” are introduced. These

q Netscape Navigator is launched.

high speed digital connections over cable
television networks are primarily used for
Internet connectivity.

■■America Online reaches 4.5 million

members. q

p President Bill Clinton signs the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 into law,
heralding a new era in telecom competition.

■■The first webmail service, Hotmail, is

launched.

■■The first high-definition television

broadcast is made in the U.S.

1996

■■Amazon.com is founded. p

1994
■■ OPASTCO

addresses issues
affecting OPASTCO members,
including access, universal service,
PCS, rate de-averaging, FBI wiretap,
the North American Numbering Plan
administration, and the Internet.

■■ “Keeping

Rural America
Connected, the toll de-averaging study
”
and series of papers, is published. The
data results from the study provide
solid evidence, which OPASTCO
and members of
Congress use to insert
language into the
Telecommunications
Act of 1996 that
represent the realities
of providing local
exchange service in
rural America. u

■■ OPASTCO

works
closely with members
of the Senate
Farm Team, a
group of Senators from rural states, on
language that will be adopted in the

■■ OPASTCO

begins active advocacy to
privatize the Rural Telephone Bank.

■■ OPASTCO

1995
■■ Number

portability, REA/RUS,
universal service, rate averaging,
DEM weighting and cable crossownership are all issues OPASTCO
addresses on behalf of the membership.

begins the slow,
meticulous work of advising the FCC
on interpretation and implementation of the Telecommunications
Act of 1996, and how their proposed
rulemakings affect rural carriers and
the communities they serve.

■■ OPASTCO

changes its name
from the Organization
for the Protection
and Advancement
of Small Telephone
Companies to the Organization for
the Promotion and Advancement
of Small Telecommunications
Companies and introduces a revised
logo. OPASTCO Roundtable gets a
makeover as well. t
■■ OPASTCO

is invited by the FCC
to hold a voting seat on the
North American Numbering
Council, a federal advisory
committee created to foster
efficient and impartial number
administration. OPASTCO
continues to hold a voting seat to
the present day.

■■ OPASTCO

launches the Indy
Awards Competition for Excellence
in Publications. The competition is
sponsored by the OPASTCO Roundtable
magazine and is a project of the Public
Relations Committee.

■■ OPASTCO

started.

Retirement Trust is

1963–2013

n


25

OPASTCO n Timeline
■■America Online surpasses 15 million

t Apple Computer

introduces the teal-and-
translucent iMac, which
is hailed as a revoluion
t
in computer design—
inside and out.
■■Forbes magazine names Compaq

its 1997 Company of the Year.

members.

■■Compaq introduces the world’s first

broadband-ready Internet PCs with
Pinacor, Inc.

■■

is founded.

■■Ericsson launches Bluetooth wireless

unique members, 18 world properties and
completes its first profitable year.

technology for personal area networks.
Bluetooth operates in the license-free
2.4 GHz band and promises speeds up to
1 Mbps in ranges up to 10 meters.

■■Compaq co-develops with Panasonic

■■Compaq introduces a video conferencing

■■Yahoo! ends the year with 50 million

■■The District Court enters a preliminary

injunction banning Microsoft to tie Internet
Explorer to Windows.

world’s first high definition digital television
tuner-decoder for personal computers.

t Intel introduces its Pentium II

microprocessor, operating at
300 MHz, having a 64 bit
bus, 7.5 million transistors,
and able to address 64 GB
of memory.

1997
■■ OPASTCO

continues to advise
the FCC on interpretation
and implementation of the
Telecommunications Act of 1996,
and how their proposed rulemakings
affect rural carriers and the
communities they serve.

■■ As

a result of the Telecom Act of
1996, the FCC makes rules for the
four distinct funds: High Cost, Low
Income, Schools and Libraries, and
Telemedicine. Schools and Libraries,
commonly known as the “E-rate”
program, grants discounted rates
for “telecommunications services,
Internet access, and internal
connections,” including “installation
and maintenance.” Later, the E-rate
program, as well as the CETC program,
cause the USF program to balloon in
size.

1998
■■ OPASTCO

continues advocating
for rural America as the FCC
interprets and implements the

■■ To

help create greater awareness
and understanding of how rural
ILEC regulation has evolved to its
current state, Congress’ intentions
for the Telecommunications
Act, the importance of rural
telecommunications on economic
development and why universal service
must be strengthened, OPASTCO
begins publishing a series of white
papers under OPASTCO’s white
paper brand, “Keeping Rural America
Connected.”

■■ Recognizing

the increased speed in
technological advances, members’ need
for a technical resource, and the value
of including technical expertise in a
variety of advocacy efforts, OPASTCO
adds a full-time technical director
to the staff. The technical director’s
role quickly expands beyond liaison to
the Technical Committee and advisor
to include acting as OPASTCO’s
representative on a variety of federal
technical advisory groups, educational
programming, and drafting comments
and magazine articles.

■■ OPASTCO

begins to address the
Communications Assistance for
Law Enforcement Act (CALEA),
which creates potential and
significant costs for OPASTCO
members.
26


n

1963–2013

kit and high-capacity diskette drive for
portable PCs.

■■ Local

number portability heats
up, and OPASTCO advocates for
policies that will not adversely affect
OPASTCO members’ universal service
support or create undo hardship to
implement the capability before there is
significant rural consumer demand.

■■ OPASTCO

and the Rural Telephone
Coalition address advanced wireline
telecommunications, including the
Internet and IP communications.

■■ OPASTCO

recognizes the new
directions the rural industry is
facing and adds the CLEC and ISP
committees.

■■ In

conjunction with OPASTCO’s
convention in Toronto, the
association builds strong ties with
Canada. Canadian telephone company
membership grows, OPASTCO
meets with the Canadian Regulatory
Telecommunications Commission in
Canada, and Canadian regulators later
visit OPASTCO in the United States.
OPASTCO meets with and speaks
before the Ontario Telecommunications
Association and the Association
des Compagnies de Téléphone
du Québec on multiple
occasions. Later, in
2003, OPASTCO
adds a Canadian
seat to its board.

OPASTCO n Timeline
■■America Online surpasses 19 million

members.

q Yahoo! is added to the SP 500.

■■The Recording Industry Association of

America (RIAA) sues Napster, an online peerto-peer file sharing service, in federal court in
San Francisco, alleging copyright infringement.

■■Apple introduces the iBook, a portable

computer designed like the iMac, weighing
6.6 lbs. with a built-in 56 kbps modem and
built-in 3.2 GB hard disk.

■■Intel introduces its Intel Mobile Pentium II

processor, operating at 400 MHz. Two
models are made, one based on a 0.25 micron
process, the other on a 0.18 micron process.
Both having 27.4 million
transistors, intended for use in
mobile PCs.
■■Compaq announces the new

Aero 8000, a handheld PC.

p America Online merges with Time Warner.
■■By the end of the year, 7.1 million U.S.

homes and businesses have high-speed
Internet connections, a 158 percent increase
over the previous year. Of these, 5.2 million
were homes or small businesses, 4.3 million
were faster than 200 kbps in both directions
(up 118 percent), 3.6 million were cable
modems (up 153 percent), 2 million were DSL
(up 435 percent).

■■Paypal is founded.

commercially.

t TiVo, a digital video

■■Intel introduces its Pentium III processor,

operating at 450 or 500 MHz, having 9.5
million transistors, based on a 0.25 micron
process, 100 MHz bus, 64 bit bus, intended
for use in business and consumer PCs, oneand two-way servers, and workstations.

1999
■■ OPASTCO

addresses universal
service, truth in billing, CALEA,
calling party pays and competition
on behalf of its membership.

■■ The

Fund for Rural Education and
Development (FRED) changes its
name to the Foundation for Rural
Education and Development and
unveils its new logo.

Wall Street as stock prices start to plunge for
IT and e-business companies.

2000

■■WiFi is first offered

recorder, is launched.

p The “Dot Com” bubble bursts on

■■ At

a strategic planning session,
OPASTCO adds the Video and
Broadband Committee. In addition,
OPASTCO designated certain board
members to represent the CLEC, ISP,
and Video and Broadband interests of
those committees.

■■ OPASTCO

continues to advocate
on behalf of its membership to ensure
the FCC’s rules designed to enhance
local competition and advanced
telecommunications services do
not have unforeseen negative
consequences for rural carriers.

■■ FCC Chairman William Kennard
addresses attendees at the OPASTCO
Summer Convention.
■■ OPASTCO

is invited by the FCC
to participate in the Network
Reliability and Interoperability
Council, an FCC advisory council
to address issues such as disaster
preparedness and recovery, IP
networks, IPv6 and next-generation
public safety networks.

■■ OPASTCO

and its rural association
allies work to address high interstate
access rates. The groups come
together to form the Multi-Association
Group (MAG). The MAG Plan
proposes to staunch access revenue
losses by moving certain parts of access
to the Universal Service Fund. By
lowering the access rates and moving
the associated revenue requirements to
the USF, the MAG Plan ultimately saves
the rural industry significant regulated
revenue that otherwise would have
been lost.
1963–2013

n


27

OPASTCO n Timeline
■■New models of the Intel Pentium 4

■■T- 3G wireless service becomes

■■America Online membership surpasses

■■Camera phones are introduced.

processor operate at 1600 and 1800 MHz.
29 million worldwide.

■■Vonage, the broadband phone service,

is launched.

■■The term “Exaflood” is coined. It

commercially available in the U.S.

■■Bluetooth technology becomes

commonplace, causing many of us to think
a lot of crazy people are walking the streets
talking to themselves. u

describes the exponentially increasing
amount of data transmitted over the
Internet each year.

2002

t Apple releases the iPod,

a portable media player.
■■The WiMAX standard is released.

2001
■■ Following

the MAG Plan, OPASTCO
continues to advocate for access
charge reform on behalf of its
membership. The association also
addresses universal service, spectrum
allocation, customer proprietary
network information rules, local
number portability and CALEA.

■■ OPASTCO’s

legislative efforts
address estate tax, reallocation of
wireless spectrum in rural areas to
create a secondary market, a separate
rural exemption for voice and
advanced services, numbering resource
optimization, jurisdictional separations,
and broadband deployment.

■■ The

Federal-State Joint Board on
Universal Service Rural Task Force,
working closely with OPASTCO
and allied associations, releases its
recommendation to the FCC on what
is necessary to create a good foundation
for a rural Universal Service Fund.

p OPASTCO creates OPASTCorp, a
limited liability corporation mandated
to help OPASTCO members through
new business opportunities and
cost-reducing services. OPASTCorp’s
first offering is its Roam-to-Home
service, making it possible to connect
to an ISP when outside the customer’s
service area. Discount domain name
registration and discount credit card
processing offers follow.
28


n

1963–2013

■■ OPASTCO

and rural association
allies begin advocating for a sustainable
High Cost Universal Service Fund
that is not affected by ballooning
growth created by competitive local
exchange carriers.
■■ OPASTCO

members Tom and Jan
Lovell of Clear Lake Independent
Telephone Company testify before
the Senate Finance Committee
Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS
Oversight about the costs and burdens
associated with federal estate tax
compliance.
■■ In

the wake of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, OPASTCO and its charitable
foundation, FRED, organize a 9/11
disaster relief fund. OPASTCO
member companies and their
employees raise $60,303 and donate
the funds to the Shanksville Volunteer
Fire Department, which responded
to the crash site of United Flight 93.
The fire department was unable to
bring its failing fire engine to the crash
site. The fire department is in need of
a new fire engine, and the donation
goes toward that purchase. q u

■■ OPASTCO

Member Don Bond of
Public Service Telephone Company
testifies before the Senate Commerce
Committee in opposition to the
Connections Plan.

■■ OPASTCO

continues to address
ongoing issues such as estate
tax, universal service, intercarrier
compensation, number portability,
RUS, and broadband implementation.

■■ OPASTCO

launches new website
to provide greater information to its
membership.

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■The social networking site, Facebook, is
■■NASA receives its last signal from the

Pioneer 10 spacecraft (launched in 1972),
approximately 7.5 billion miles from Earth.

■■Skype VoIP and software service are

released.

p Apple launches its iTunes Music Store.
■■The United States National Do Not Call

u OPASTO Board

■■ OPASTCO

and NTCA file a petition
with the United States Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit,
calling for a review of the FCC’s
wireline to wireless (intermodal)
portability.
advocates on a wide
range of issues, including universal
service and CETC costs, intermodal
local number portability, government
networks, customer proprietary
network information and numbering.

■■ OPASTCO

■■ On

behalf of OPASTCO,
ITTA, NTCA and the Western
Telecommunications Alliance (WTA),
OPASTCO member Robert Orent of
Hiawatha Communications testifies
before the Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science and Transportation
Subcommittee on Communications
regarding the increasingly serious
threats the Universal Service Fund
currently faces and the need for
stepped-up congressional oversight.

2004

Registry enrolls almost 750,000 phone
numbers on its first day.

2003

p OPASTCO publishes the “Universal
Service in Rural America: A
Congressional Mandate at Risk”
white paper. Written by OPASTCO’s
Stuart Polikoff, the paper is conceived
and developed by OPASTCO’s
Universal Service Committee.

launched at Harvard by Mark Zuckerberg
and his college friends.

Member Robert
Williams of
Oregon Farmers
Mutual Telephone
Company testifies
before the House
Small Business
Rural Enterprises,
Agriculture and
Technology Subcommittee at “The
Future of Rural Telecommunications:
Is the Universal Service Fund
Sustainable?” hearing.

■■ Representing

OPASTCO and
NTCA, Sid Shank of Bloomingdale
Telephone Company testifies before
the House Telecommunications and the
Internet Subcommittee “The Future of
Universal Service” hearing.

q In Boston, OPASTCO holds its firstever Technical Symposium.

■■ OPASTCO

advocates on a broad
service, IP-enabled services, CALEA,
rate-of-return regulation, video
competition, RUS, USAC audits and
intercarrier compensation.

■■ OPASTCO

Chairman Arturo
“Archie” Macias of Wheat
State Telephone testifies
before the Senate Committee
on Commerce, Science and
Transportation regarding the
Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) Regulatory Freedom
Act. u

■■ OPASTCO

Member S. Michael
“Mick” Jensen of Great Plains
Communications testifies before
the House Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and the Internet
“Voice over Internet Protocol Services:
Will the Technology Disrupt the
Industry or Will Regulation Disrupt the
Technology?” hearing.

■■ OPASTCO

Member Gene Johnson
of FairPoint Communications
testifies before the Federal-State Joint
Board on Universal Service at an en
banc hearing regarding the basis of
support in areas served by rural areas.
Nixon v. Missouri League,
the Supreme Court rules that states
can block local governments from
providing telecom service. This is
a huge win for OPASTCO and other
rural allies who participated in the
petition.

■■ Regarding

■■ The

Universal Service Fund
receives a 12-month reprieve from
Antideficiency Act requirements.
OPASTCO members lobby hard for
this reprieve and continue to advocate
for a permanent exemption.

■■ OPASTCO

adds a non-voting
associate member seat to its Board
of Directors.
1963–2013

n


29

OPASTCO n Timeline
■■Senator Obama raises the issue of net

neutrality during a presidential campaign
speech.
t Twitter is launched. It is an online
service with a limit of 140 characters
per post. Twitter’s use of @ and # enter
mainstream culture several years later.

2006
p YouTube.com is founded to share video

files and create personalized video channels.

t The Xbox 360 game console is launched.
It has gaming, Internet, live chat, and video
capabilities.

2005
■■ OPASTCO

addresses telecom policy
issues on behalf of its membership,
including universal service and the
Antideficiency Act, pre-paid calling
cards, intercarrier compensation,
wireless roaming, local number
portability, DTV, and Vonage.

■■ OPASTCO

■■ Following

■■ OPASTCO

OPASTCO and NTCA’s
participation in a Petition for a Partial
Stay and Clarification with the FCC on
its intermodal local number portability
orders, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the D. C. Circuit recognizes that
the FCC failed to comply with the
Regulatory Flexibility Act’s requirement
to prepare a final regulatory flexibility
analysis regarding the order’s impact on
small entities.

u OPASTCO, NTCA, WTA

and ITTA found the
Coalition to Keep
America Connected,
the start of a broadbased effort to ensure
that both the public
and policymakers
understand how
decisions made regarding
the Telecommunications Act of 1996
rewrite affect rural consumers.

Member Kevin Hess
of TDS Telecom testifies before the
House Rural Caucus Telecom Task
Force regarding regulatory issues that
must be addressed to ensure rural
consumers have continued access to a
broadband network.
joins the Intercarrier
Compensation Forum, an industrywide group of rural phone companies,
long distance companies, cable TV
providers, wireless providers and
Bell companies working together
to negotiate a consensus plan to be
submitted to the FCC.

■■ OPASTCO

becomes a voting
member of the DSL Forum (now
known as the Broadband Forum) to
address the challenges of deploying
broadband DSL solutions in rural
areas. OPASTCO’s representative
to the DSL Forum/Broadband
Forum is OPASTCO Technical
Committee Member Lynn
Merrill of Monte R. Lee
Company.

■■ OPASTCO

service contribution methodology,
reverse auctions, USAC audits, video
competition, IP transport, number
pooling, phantom traffic, RUS,
separations reform, and roaming.

■■ On

behalf of OPASTCO and the
Coalition to Keep America Connected,
CenturyTel CEO Glen Post testifies
before the Senate Commerce, Science
and Transportation Committee on the
Universal Service Fund contribution
mechanism.
■■ On

NTCA’s Shirley Bloomfield testifies
before the Congressional Rural Caucus
on the importance of the Universal
Service Fund and telecommunications
challenges facing rural America.
■■ The

National Association of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners’ Intercarrier Compensation Taskforce files the Missoula
Plan with the FCC. The Rural Alliance, of
which OPASTCO is a member, supports
the plan and holds a series of telebriefings
to educate the rural industry about the
plan and the FCC’s rulemaking process.

■■ On

OPASTCO’s John Rose testifies before
the Congressional Rural Caucus on
the “Consumer Choice and Broadband
Deployment Act of 2006.”
■■ OPASTCO’s Technical Committee
establishes a relationship with the
University of New Hampshire in
an effort to get first-hand vendor
interoperability test results for
carriers attempting to deploy new
technologies in rural networks.

t OPASTCO Roundtable

introduces a new design.

30


n

1963–2013

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■The FCC adopts an interim Universal

■■The open source smart phone operating

system, Android, is developed.

■■The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth

Circuit upholds the FCC’s Order to preempt
state regulation of voice over Internet protocol
(VoIP) services.

p Netflix begins offering video streaming over

the Internet.

■■Apple introduces its first smart phone, the

iPhone.

■■Hulu, the subscription streaming video

service, is launched.

range of issues, including high-cost
Universal Service Fund stabilization,
reverse auctions, video set-top boxes,
retransmission consent reform, access
stimulation, USAC audits, DEM
weighting, broadband deployment and
funding, video competition, customer
proprietary network information, and
voice over Internet protocol (VoIP).

■■ OPASTCO

Legislative Policy
Committee Chair Brent Christensen
of Christensen Communications
testifies before the House Small
Business Subcommittee on Rural and
Urban Entrepreneurship regarding how
many rural communities depend on
small, rural carriers to provide the rural
telecommunications network necessary
to provide broadband access.

■■Apple opens the Apple Apps Store, offering

applications (apps) downloadable to the
iPhone.

2008

■■magicJack is invented; widespread

commercial marketing begins a year later.

■■The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third

Circuit upholds the FCC’s classification of
DSL as an information service under the

2007
■■ OPASTCO

Service Fund cap for competitive eligible
telecommunications companies (CETCs). This
cap prevents the further upward spiral of
high-cost fund growth by CETCs.

t Representing

OPASTCO,
ITTA, NTCA and
WTA, OPASTCO
Chairman Roger
Nishi testifies
before the Senate
Committee on
Commerce, Science
and Transportation’s hearing on
assessing the recommendations of the
Federal-State Joint Board on Universal
Service to temporarily cap high-cost
Universal Service Fund support for
competitive local exchange carriers.
■■ OPASTCO

launches a new,
redesigned website to provide its
members with increased access to
resources and tools, a document library,
and other member benefits. q

■■ OPASTCO

Chairman
Keith Oliver of Home
Telephone Company
(S.C.) testifies before the
House Committee on Small
Business Subcommittee
on Contracting and
Technology in support of
the DTV transition, and
access to spectrum and
content for small carriers. u
■■ On

behalf of OPASTCO, NTCA and
WTA, Raymond Henagan of Rock
Port Telephone Company testifies
on phantom traffic.
■■ OPASTCO

range of issues, including high-cost
Universal Service Fund stabilization,
USF audits, intercarrier compensation,
broadband reporting, broadband
investment, video competition, DTV
outreach mandate, spectrum, call
signaling, and phantom traffic.

■■ OPASTCO

is invited to meet with
members of President-elect Obama’s
FCC transition team.

■■ OPASTCO

and WTA make
major rural gains to the FCC’s
universal service and intercarrier
compensation reform plan. The
associations stay at the negotiation
table long after other associations have
backed away. Through almost daily
negotiations at the FCC, significant
concessions are gained. Although the
FCC’s reform plan ultimately fails to
be adopted, relationships between
the FCC and OPASTCO are greatly
strengthened.
1963–2013

n


31

OPASTCO n Timeline

■■The American Recovery and

Reinvestment Act of 2009 is signed into
law and includes $7.2 billion in funding
for broadband build-outs to under- and
unserved communities.

■■The FCC releases a Notice of Inquiry

seeking comments on the development
of a National Broadband Plan.

2009
service and intercarrier compensation
reform, broadband stimulus,
comprehensive rural broadband
strategy, and separations access freeze.

p Apple introduces its first iPad tablet.
■■The first non-English-character domain

names launch.

■■Facebook reaches 500 million members and

Twitter reaches 145 million users.

Chairman Mark
Gailey testifies
before the House
Subcommittee on
Telecommunications
and the Internet’s
hearing on the
Universal Service
Fund. u
■■ OPASTCO First Vice Chairman
Catherine Moyer testifies before
the House Subcommittee on
Communications, Technology and
the Internet on the Universal Service
Reform Act of 2009.
■■ Representatives

of OPASTCO
and WTA testify at seven public
roundtables hosted by the National
Telecommunications and Information
Administration and RUS, to discuss
rural broadband providers thoughts
on how broadband funds from the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 should be awarded.

■■ OPASTCO

is invited by the FCC to
participate on its Technical Advisory
Council, which advises the FCC on
technical considerations that need to be
addressed in the transition of current
PSTN networks to all-broadband IP
networks.

32


n

1963–2013

■■YouTube turns five years old.
■■The 10 billionth song is downloaded

through iTunes.

■■Consumer 3D TVs are introduced.

2010

■■ OPASTCO

■■ OPASTCO

■■“.com” turns 25 years old.

■■ OPASTCO

focuses the majority
of its resources to address the FCC’s
National Broadband Plan and the
potentially harmful consequences
to rural broadband infrastructure if
adopted.

■■ Representing

OPASTCO, NTCA
and WTA, Hill Country Telephone
Cooperative’s Delbert Wilson testifies
Subcommittee on Communications for
the “Universal Service: Transforming
the High-Cost Fund for the Broadband
Era” hearing.
■■ On

behalf of OPASTCO, NTCA
and WTA, NTCA’s CEO Shirley
Bloomfield testifies before the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce’s
Subcommittee on Communications,
Technology and the Internet to explain
how the “Universal Service Reform
Act of 2010” helps update the universal
service program to reflect the critical
shift from voice to broadband.

■■ OPASTCO

is invited to
participate as a member of the
National Coordination Center for
Communications, which answers to
the Department of Homeland Security
and is the single point of coordination
for communications carriers to report
network status or to get relief assistance
in case of natural or other disasters.
OPASTCO uses this relationship to
get member companies in touch with
federal aid organizations, such as
FEMA, prior to and after a disaster.

q FCC Chairman Julius
Genachowski addresses attendees at
the OPASTCO Summer Convention
and Tradeshow.

OPASTCO n Timeline

p Netflix has 24.4 million subscribers for

its streaming-video-over-Internet and
DVD-by-mail services.

■■Facebook users start making live voice and

video calls via Facebook Chat.

■■Ultra HDTV, with four times the resolution

■■iPhone users can make video calls using a

of standard 1080p HD models, is introduced
at the Consumer Electronics Show.

mobile version of Skype.

■■Skype is purchased by Microsoft for

$8.5 billion. There are more than 600 million
users worldwide.

■■Skype partners with Comcast to offer video

chat to Comcast customers via their highdefinition televisions.

2011
■■ OPASTCO

advocates for
universal service and intercarrier
compensation reform to ensure
consumers everywhere have sustainable
access to broadband as it pertains to
support of existing broadband networks,
and underserved and unserved areas.
Additionally, issues such as call
completion, access to video content,
retransmission consent, RUS, truth
in caller ID, carrier customers’ tariff
obligations, and estate tax are addressed.

■■ OPASTCO, in partnership with NTCA
and WTA, creates the Save Rural
Broadband campaign to increase rural
America’s understanding of how the
FCC’s universal service and intercarrier
compensation reforms could affect their
access to high-speed broadband, and to
generate grassroots action.
■■ On

behalf of OPASTCO, NTCA and
WTA, NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield
testifies before the United States Senate
Committee on Commerce, Science
and Transportation in the matter of
“Universal Service Reform—Bringing
Broadband to All Americans.”

p Intel begins mass-production of processors

based on 3D transistors.

2013

■■Wireless connections surpass 6 billion with

90 percent using 3GPP technologies

■■Mobile broadband HSPA and LTE

connections reach one billion.

2012
advocates for universal
service and intercarrier compensation
reform to ensure consumers
everywhere have sustainable access to
broadband, as well as new broadband
service to underserved and unserved
areas. Additionally, issues such as call
completion, access to video content,
retransmission consent, and RUS are
addressed.

■■ OPASTCO

■■ OPASTCO

and NTCA’s boards
further explore and formalize
a process to unify the two
associations. The boards vote to
legally bind the two organizations to a
unification vote by the memberships,
which is scheduled for February 6,
2013.

p On February 2, OPASTCO
celebrates its 50th anniversary
and the retirement of OPASTCO
President John Rose after 25 years
of service to OPASTCO at a gala in
Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
■■ OPASTCO

and NTCA jointly hold
the Rural Telecom Industry Meeting
EXPO in Lake Buena Vista, Florida,
February 3–6. The joint meeting brings
both commercial and cooperative telcos
together under one roof for the largest
industry meeting of its kind. q

■■ OPASTCO

and NTCA’s boards
begin to explore whether or not ongoing
unified efforts between OPASTCO and
NTCA should be formalized so that
resources to advocate for the industry
may be combined.
1963–2013

n


33


Lt. Cmdr. Rose with sons Matthew and
Jack.
34


n

1963–2013

John and his wife, Cathy, soak up the
warmth at a winter convention in Hawaii.

John speaks to members during
OPASTCO’s 30th anniversary year.

OPASTCO n Tribute

1988 – 2013
John Rose

OPASTCO’s President and Industry Leader
For 25 years, John N. Rose has been the steady
hand guiding OPASTCO and its membership through
the highs and lows of rural telecom industry change.
From the days of network expansion to regulatory reforms and leaps in technology, Rose has kept
OPASTCO members looking forward to prepare for
future challenges.

Rose the Naval Officer
Looking back on his career, Rose can directly connect many of his strengths to his time in the Navy.
As a young naval officer, Rose learned the discipline
necessary to set goals and follow through on them. He
enjoyed a series of quick promotions, and within three
years was a lieutenant on a minecraft support ship,
responsible for 26 minesweeper boats and 125 men.
Rose recalls his proudest moment in the navy; he
used all of the information at his disposal and was
confident his instincts were correct.
One night, Rose was the officer on the deck, in
charge of a cruiser-size ship, one hundred miles out of
Rio de Janeiro making top speed for Norfolk, Va. It
was pitch-dark with no moon, and orders were to move
the ship at top speed. There were many small blips on
the radar, but the crew assumed the blips were waves.
Rose’s instincts told him that he should slow down and
shine a floodlight on his course. From everything he
had seen during his time in Rio, he didn’t believe that
all of the blips were waves. When the ship slowed, the
captain came to the bridge of the ship to find out why
Rose had slowed down. He was annoyed by the slowdown and the floodlight, and wanted to stay on schedule. Rose prevailed and at that moment, the floodlight
began to show that the blips on the radar were dozens
of small fishing boats in the path of the naval ship. If
the ship had proceeded at speed, it would have plowed
through the Brazilian fishing boats. Rose had prevented
an international incident and loss of human life.
Rose used the skills he honed in the Navy, after
he left for a life on shore. During his years at Chesapeake Potomac (CP) and the Rural Electrification
Administration (REA), Rose continued to serve in the
Navy Reserve. Stationed at the Pentagon, as a Lieutenant Commander, during the Reagan years, Rose worked

Upon John’s retirement, we
reflect on his 25 years at the
helm of OPASTCO
M artha K . S i l v e r

on the strategic planning of national resources in the
event of World War III and used the early Internet as
part of his work.

From Renegade to Rural Industry Expert
Once his years in the Navy were over, Rose returned to
a life on land. He had a growing family and was ready
to build his civilian career.
At CP, Ma Bell trained him well on switching,
transmission, traffic and cost accounting. Rose worked
in accounting, auditing, and separations with independent companies. During his seven-year tenure at
CP, Rose became known as a bit of a renegade. He
performed many unpopular audits on CP people—
several who later became his bosses.
After seven years at CP, Rose was ready for
something new. He found it at the Rural Electrification
Administration (REA). He joined as a public utility specialist, quickly moving up to branch chief and
then director of the telecommunications management
division. Rose found himself involved in many different areas of REA, where he absorbed a huge body of
knowledge covering all aspects of loan administration,
toll separations, and toll deaveraging. He regularly
interacted with the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission, and wrote Congressional testimony for REA’s administrator, as well as providing his
own testimony to Congress. Rose’s range of knowledge
was so broad, he once attended a meeting where he
spoke on six topics; ATT was at the meeting and sent
six different experts.
Leveraging the knowledge he gained from seven
years working at REA on the complexities of the
independent telephone company industry, Rose moved
on to the United States Telecom Association (USTA).
1963–2013

n


35

OPASTCO n Tribute

Rose as an Industry Leader
One of the most frequently mentioned attributes that John
Rose has brought to his success as an industry leader is his
ability to bring divergent groups together to find common
ground and reach agreement. As a consensus builder, Rose
often found that industry parties, regardless of size, could see
the long-term benefit of a prosperous rural telecom industry.
With the small and rural telecommunications industry, Rose
used these same skills to bring many uniquely situated and
diverse small telecommunications companies and their trade
associations together to support policy positions that looked
beyond the immediate needs of a single company to ensure that
the rural telecom industry as a whole was best positioned to
address the challenges of a changing competitive environment.
In the face of striking industry changes, Rose has surprised
many with his calm demeanor in the face of heated debate
and seemingly impossible challenges. In these situations,
the uninitiated might think Rose was unconcerned about the
debated issues or consequences; nothing could be farther from
the truth. In times when tempers ran high and talks at the
negotiation tables became emotional pleas, Rose fell back on
the basic truths of strategic thinking he learned during his years
in the Navy. Staying cool and calm in the face of a crisis is the
only way to see above the fray to plot a successful course.

36


n

1963–2013

At USTA, John worked for four years on behalf of
the rural industry before he was recruited to head
OPASTCO as the association’s executive vice president
in 1988. His title was changed to president in 1996.

Rose Reinvigorates OPASTCO and Its Mission
Under Rose’s leadership, OPASTCO grew as an
association, reaching out to its members, offering new
member benefits, and strengthening its relationships
with other industry organizations, the FCC and Capitol
Hill. For the next 25 years, Rose dedicated himself to
the time and travel necessary to make OPASTCO an
influential advocate for rural telecommunications.
In his first year at OPASTCO, 1988, he launched
OPASTCO Roundtable magazine and paved the way for
the Fund for Rural Education and Development (FRED)
to grow into a successful 501(c)3 charity. The following
year, OPASTCO held its first legislative and regulatory
conference and began to build a strong relationship
with the National State Telephone Executives Association. Over the next few years, OPASTCO developed the
PR Idea Kit, added the Average Schedule Committee,
advocated on significant cross-ownership and regulated
revenue issues, and testified before Congress. By 1991,
Rose created significant momentum for OPASTCO and
its winter convention had a record-breaking number of
attendees.
The momentum continued with the 1992 Van Tour,
visiting more than 70 small, rural telephone compa-

OPASTCO n Tribute

John Rose: A talented leader, gifted facilitator, patient

educator, dedicated emissary, and always a good sport

nies in 40 states; the first Small Telephone Company
Week; the groundbreaking and influential “Keep Rural
America Connected” toll de‑ veraging study; Peoplea
to-People visits by staff to the member hip; OPASTCO
s
seats on the Network Reliability Council and the North
American umbering Council; the creation of the
N
OPASTCO Advocate monthly issues-focused newsletter;
the addition of ISP, CLEC and Video and Broadband
Committees; OPASTCO’s Indy Awards Competition for
Publication Excellence; work with the Farm Team on
Capitol Hill to get rural-friendly language in the Telecommunications Act of 1996; the addition of full-time
Technical and Legislative Affairs directors; building
strong ties with companies and regulatory bodies in
Canada; the creation of OPASTCorp; and advocacy for
a sustainable Universal Service High-Cost Fund.
In addition to orchestrating the creation of new
member benefits and functions for OPASTCO, Rose
was crucial in OPASTCO’s long history of working
together with other groups that share common goals
or members, including the Rural Telephone Coalition,
the Network Reliability Council, the National State
Telephone Executives Association, the National Association for Rural Utility Commissioners, the National

Exchange Carrier Association, Canadian associations
and the Canadian Regulatory Telecommunications
Commission, the Multi-Association Group, the Intercarrier Compensation Forum, the Coalition to Keep
America Connected, the High-Tech Digital Television
Coalition, Fair Access to Content and Telecommunications, Coalition for Competition in the Media,
American Television Alliance, Coalition for Competitive Access to Content, the FCC’s Technical Advisory
Council, the Telecommunications Industry Association,
and many more informal groups. Through all of these
industry connections, Rose ensured OPASTCO was
well-positioned to be a part of the significant conversations for the rural telecom industry.

Rose’s Next Chapter: Retirement
As Rose retires Feb. 28, 2013, our industry says thank
you to a man who had the vision, dedication and leadership to think strategically above the fray and prepare
OPASTCO members for the challenges of tomorrow.
Congratulations and thank you, John Rose, for all
your hard work on behalf of the rural telecommunications industry. May you have a well-deserved happy
and healthy retirement!
1963–2013

n


37


John Rose’s Top 10

Telecom Advocacy Efforts
by OPASTCO
For the past 25 years, OPASTCO President John Rose
has been leading the association and spearheading its
advocacy efforts. Here are 10 overarching telecom policy
advocacy efforts that have had profound effects on the rural
telecommunications industry.

OPASTCO…
Supported the legislation to
allow CoBank to lend to rural
communications providers and supported
the creation of RTFC by NRECA to lend
to small rural communications providers.
OPASTCO continues to support REA
(RUS) funding at maximum levels.

1

Promoted before
all policymakers and
members alike the need for small
telephone companies to provide
services such as wireless, CATV,
USINTELCO (SS7), and other
services and businesses.

3

negotiated
continuously with the
FCC and industry to maximize
DEM weighting in order to pay
for rural switch upgrades.

Worked for the creation of
NECA and small company
representation on the board to replace
the Bell settlements system. Pushed for
the creation of per minute IXC access
charges, flat rate subscriber charges, and
a universal service fund.
38


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1963–2013

2

4

OPASTCO n Advocacy

Lobbied the Senate “Farm Team”
throughout 1994–95 to codify
universal service and funding. OPASTCO
published the study “Keeping Rural
America Connected: Costs and Rates
in the Competitive Era, 1994,” which
influenced the 1996 legislation.

5

6

Aggressively supported
the Multi Association Group
(MAG) plan, which moved revenue
requirements from per minute access
to the Universal Service Fund. This was
a controversial issue which eventually
proved beneficial to small companies.

7

ADVOCATED for
ten years promoting
privatization of the Rural
Telephone Bank, which yielded
significant funds to upgrade
rural networks.

9

10

ACTIVELY LIAISED, on behalf
of rural telcos, with the “Rural
Task Force,” which stabilized the
Universal Service Fund and reinitialized
the cap on the USF.

APPOINTED voting
members of all the FCC
Technical Advisory Committees
from the early 1990s to present
in order to influence policy and
ensure that recommendations
were small company friendly.

8

Aggressively
promoted at all
venues the roll out of broadband
in rural America and the
modernization rural networks.

1963–2013

n


39


1988 – 2013

The History and Mission of FRED
Providing resources for rural ommunities has
c
always been important to OPASTCO members. In 1988,
Everette Kneece, from South Carolina, and a group of his
fellow OPASTCO members wanted to strengthen their
efforts to help their home towns. They had a vision of
a nonprofit organization that would help improve rural
education and community development. uring that year,
D
plans were put in place to establish a new organization, and
in 1989, the Fund for Rural Education and Development
or FRED was created, thanks to a $5,000 donation from
Mr. Kneece.
In 1991, FRED created the first of two endowment funds
through a $25,000 donation from Everette and Martha
Kneece. That next year, FRED awarded its first two scholarships worth $1,000 each. In 1998, after a decade of success
with its scholarship program, FRED began to provide new
publications and programs. To reflect this evolution, the
FRED board changed the name from “Fund” to “Foundation,” updated the logo, and implemented a strategic plan
to further expand programs and funding for OPASTCO
member communities.
Those efforts have made FRED the national foundation that it is today. Throughout the last 25 years, FRED
has awarded $2.6 million in scholarships, grants and other

funding through its programs. As OPASTCO’s xclusive
e
foundation, FRED has helped the members gain leverage
within their local communities by providing them with a
competitive edge against larger providers.
While FRED has evolved over the last two decades into
a full foundation, it remains deeply rooted in tradition and
is driven by the concepts and principals of the founding
OPASTCO members. With a healthy endowment worth
$1.6 million and generous supporters, FRED is able to
provide more than $125,000 in funding each year through
scholarships, awards and grants. FRED is proud to be part
of OPASTCO’s rich history, and salutes the many accomplishments it has made for rural companies and individuals
during the last 50 years.
—Melissa A. Korzuch, Foundation Director

Nation’s Ford
received a
Technology Grant
for $4,800.

2 5 Y ea r s

FRED Has Given Back to Rural America

$1,129,070 Scholarships
$475,433 Community Development Grants
$275,000 Youth Leadership Grants
$740,000 Technology Upgrade Grants
$90,000 Hurricane Katrina Relief
$60,303 9/11 Recovery Efforts

Ethyl Grants
provide matching support of
up to $2,500 for rural schools and communities.

Everette Kneece’s service to FRED was acknowledged by OPASTCO friends during the 2005 summer convention in Boston.
40


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1963–2013

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