FRS hosts congressional broadband tour of Montana

This summer, the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) hosted a Congressional Broadband Tour to Montana, August 13-16, allowing seven congressional staffers to visit telecom providers and see firsthand the challenges of deploying broadband to rural communities. The foundation sought to educate Hill staff -- on both sides of the aisle -- about the geographic and financial challenges of providing robust broadband service to remote rural areas, as well as to highlight the role rural telecom companies play in providing essential broadband services that support education, health care and public safety. The first stop on the journey was Blackfoot Telephone Cooperative (Missoula), where they were greeted warmly by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bill Squires and his staff, who gave them a tour of their facility and service area. Day two of their trip was capped off beautifully by a visit to the innovative VisionNet (Great Falls), a technology solutions provider owned by several NTCA member companies.