Double R Productions submitted the video, part of the Save Rural Broadband Campaign, as a sample in the online video category. Save Rural Broadband is a national initiative to educate Americans on the Federal Communications Commission’s proposals that could profoundly affect rural America. The video tells the story of the businesses and organizations in rural South Texas that rely on high-speed broadband access to meet their responsibilities.

“Thank you to our Cooperative’s member-owners that supported us during the filming of this video and shared their stories with us,” said Valley Telephone Cooperative CEO Dave Osborn. “Our organization is working diligently to expand our broadband network to provide Internet to underserved communities in South Texas. We are proud to be part of the Save Rural Broadband initiative.”

Awards of Excellence Winners are awarded a Gold Communicator statuette, the highest honor. Awards of Distinction Winners are awarded a Silver Communicator statuette. The winners of the 2012 Communicator Awards are announced by the International Academy of the Visual Arts.  With thousands of entries received from across the U.S. and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring the creative excellence for communications professionals.

The Communicator Awards are judged and overseen by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA), a 550+ member organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media.  Current IAVA membership represents a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed media, advertising, and marketing firms including:  Condè Nast, Coach, Disney, The Ellen Degeneres Show, Estee Lauder, HBO, Keller Crescent, Monster.com, MTV, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, Tribal DDB, Victoria’s Secret, Wired, Yahoo!, and many others.

For VTX1’s broadband service information call 1-800-446-2031 and to view the award winning Save Rural Broadband-Texas video visit www.vtx1.net.

About VTX1

VTX1 provides broadband access to enable Internet, television and telephone applications for homes and small businesses in South Texas and custom services for large enterprises. VTX1’s broadband network extends from south of San Antonio to the lower Rio Grande Valley. The brand name is VTX1. Legal entities are Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc., VTX Communications, LLC, and VTX Telecom, LLC. Eligibility to receive broadband services is based on service address.

About Save Rural Broadband

Save Rural Broadband was created by the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies, and the Western Telecommunications Alliance to show Congress and the Obama administration how the proposals the Federal Communications Commission is seeking to impose on rural communications providers are detrimental to efforts to upgrade broadband Internet networks in many rural communities – and how it would result in the loss of jobs and decreased economic development in regions of America that need them most.

About The Communicator Awards

The Communicator Awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for communication professionals. Founded by communication professionals over a decade ago, The Communicator Awards is an annual competition honoring the best in advertising, corporate communications, public relations and identity work for print, video, interactive and audio. This year’s Communicator Awards received thousands of entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world. The Communicator Awards is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed media, advertising, and marketing firms.

Save Rural Broadband-Texas video featuring Valley Telephone Cooperative received top honors at 2012 Communicator Awards. Double R Productions interview Derrick Swanberg at Swanberg Farms in Stillman.

Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc., VTX Communications, LLC and VTX Telecom, LLC, also known as, VTX1, are proud to celebrate 60 years of providing broadband access for Internet, television entertainment and telephone service in South Texas.

A group of dedicated and hard working individuals from our communities came together to establish telephone service for rural South Texas, and the creation of Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc. was the beginning of many great accomplishments for the organization and our communities. “Our organization seeks to quadruple the size of our customer base in the next several years,” said Valley Telephone CEO Dave Osborn. “We are always expanding our broadband network to reach new capacity levels, but today, after 60 years in the telecommunications business, our organization is constructing a fiber-optic broadband network for South Texas that will become one of the most valuable resources in the State and enable our communities to achieve new heights in the areas of education, health, commerce and technology.”

The Cooperative was established to serve rural subscribers deemed unfeasible by the larger companies. The charter and articles of incorporation for the Cooperative were granted on April 22, 1952, and the Cooperative was designed to provide rural telephone service to residents of Willacy, eastern Hidalgo and northern Cameron counties.  The incorporators were J. B. Pinson, Godfrey J. Lassig, Burton C. Hester, Verner Gustafson, of Lyford; William T. Holland, Sr., and Julian T. Mayo, Sr., Raymondville; and Argyle McAllen, Linn.  Decades later, Valley Telephone established VTX Communications and VTX Telecom to reach more communities and to offer additional services.

VTX Communications provides wireless Internet and long distance service. It also provides data transport and other solutions for large enterprises. The newest addition to the Cooperative’s family of companies is VTX Telecom. This company provides fiber-optic broadband access for all its customers. VTX Telecom is currently serving Dilley, west Raymondville, and continues to expand to serve Agua Dulce, Charlotte, Falfurrias, George West, Jourdanton, Lyford, Sebastian, Orange Grove, Premont, Santa Rosa, and Three Rivers areas.

Residents within the communities of Lyford, Sebastian and Santa Rosa are now eligible to connect their homes and business to VTX1’s fiber-optic broadband network. For more information about VTX1, visit www.vtx1.net or call 1-800-446-2031.

About VTX1

VTX1 provides broadband access to enable Internet, television and telephone applications for homes and small businesses in South Texas, and custom services for larger enterprises. VTX1’s broadband network extends from south of San Antonio to the lower Rio Grande Valley. The brand name is VTX1. Legal entities are Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc., VTX Communications, LLC, and VTX Telecom, LLC. Eligibility to receive broadband services is based on service address.

VTX1 Team Members in Raymondville

Valley Telephone Cooperative team members at corporate office located at South 6^th Street in Raymondville. The future corporate building is under construction on East Hidalgo Avenue.

Course Description
• Introduction: learn the different parts of the computer and how to use them.
• Internet: find out how to connect and navigate the World Wide Web.
• Email: learn how to communicate using email.
• Microsoft Word: learn to create letters, memos, flyers, etc.
• Microsoft Excel: learn how to track expenses, inventory, addresses, etc.

Computer classes will be offered in the following communities:
Raymondville: Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Lyford: Monday and Tuesday from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m., and Wednesday and Thursday from 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Santa Rosa: Monday and Tuesday from 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., and Wednesday and Thursday from 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

For more information about computer classes, please contact Eddie Orozco at 1.800.446.2031.

Each new self-sustained facility, referred to as a “central office”, will be managed and monitored remotely by the company’s Network Operations Center located on 6th Street in Raymondville.

Valley Telephone and VTX Telecom currently have 18 central offices housing technical equipment throughout its vast rural service area. The additional 11 facilities are required to expand their broadband network to serve the new communities.

“Two types of equipment will be housed within the new facilities: the equipment that connects the customers’ premises to the central office in their area and the equipment that connects one community’s central office to the next one on our network,” explained VTCI Network Manager Richard Cavin.

“Think of our broadband network as a highway system. All the towns we service need to be connected to each other via this broadband network just like communities are connected today with highways and roads. The control center is our Network Operations Center, this is the company’s connection to the rest of the world,” Cavin said. “That’s how we enable your phone calls, your television entertainment and your access to the World Wide Web.”

“This initiative is part of a much greater vision,” added VTCI Chief Executive Officer Dave Osborn. “We seek to become more than just a telephone company for our customers. We will become their broadband service provider of choice and continue to set a higher standard in our industry for quality and capability.”

“Our ongoing efforts to expand our broadband network will fundamentally alter the technology landscape in our region and make South Texas one of the most desirable locations in the country for economic growth”, said Osborn.“Our broadband service will enable endless opportunities for our communities’ well being.”

For more information about VTCI and affiliates, please visit www.vtci.net or call 1.800.446.2031.

About VTCI

For almost 60 years, VTCI has provided a full range of telecommunication services, which include local and long distance telephone service, high speed Internet and television entertainment, to 17 rural communities in South Texas. VTCI exchanges cover well over 7,300 square miles and serve 19 counties in South Texas. The Cooperative currently employs over 100 employees and serves 4,000 members. VTCI’s corporate headquarters are located in Raymondville. Subsidiary companies include VTX Communications, headquartered in Harlingen, and VTX Telecom in Raymondville.

CONSTRUCTION PHOTOS

Orange Grove

Santa Rosa

Jourdanton

Charlotte

Falfurrias

Raymondville

July 14, 2011 (Washington, DC) – Today, a group of rural telecom associations, comprised of the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA), the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) and the Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA), were joined by U.S. Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) and U.S. Rep. Lee Terry (R-NE) to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to promote and preserve sustainable broadband access for rural consumers. The campaign includes an advertising and social media effort intended to educate consumers and members of Congress about the consequences of the rule changes currently under consideration, as well as economic studies and other initiatives to shine greater light on how the proposed changes would adversely affect rural consumers and small businesses.

“The FCC’s intention to expand broadband access to all Americans is one we all support,” said Shirley Bloomfield, chief executive officer of NTCA. “But if the FCC adopts rules like those currently under consideration, it would likely create all-new ‘unserved’ areas in rural America and mean higher broadband access costs for those rural consumers lucky enough to keep their access to broadband. It would also harm small companies and entrepreneurs who rely on broadband to conduct business in rural areas. In today’s struggling economy, that is something neither consumers nor small businesses can afford.”

The associations also reacted to the House Republican proposal that would take $1 billion from the Universal Service Fund and apply it to deficit reduction:

“The House Republican proposal is a new, hidden tax on consumers,” the associations said. “This will not only mean less money for consumers, but will also negatively impact commerce, e-government, agriculture and our overall prosperity, and result in defaults in government and private sector loans leading to more economic distress and lost service. We urge consumers to reach out to their members of Congress and tell them to leave the Universal Service Fund alone.”

Currently, rural carriers of last resort obtain support through the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) for a portion of the costs they incur to provide and expand broadband services to nearly five million customers in high-cost rural areas. This support enables small rural telephone companies and cooperatives to provide consumers and businesses in their service areas with affordable broadband service, to extend such services to “unserved” areas over time, and to upgrade their networks in response to consumer demand for faster connection speeds and more bandwidthintensive applications and services.

However, new rules currently being considered by the FCC would put affordable and reliable rural broadband service and upgrades in jeopardy by slashing and redistributing this essential USF support.

“Simply put, the FCC shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” stated OPASTCO President John Rose. “Rural telecommunications companies and cooperatives have built and maintained broadband networks in rural areas. A proven mechanism exists to continue funding these efforts. The FCC should keep what is working, and we have proposed an alternative that will help ensure rural broadband service is available now and in the long term without material increases in spending.”

The rural telecom associations’ alternative would achieve USF and intercarrier compensation (ICC) reform by encouraging fiscal responsibility, demanding accountability, reasonably constraining growth in the USF and modernizing existing mechanisms. Specifically, it would:

• Develop a cost-based, “rate of return” based broadband funding mechanism for rural carriers.
• Establish several targeted measures to enhance efficiency in the use of USF support.
• Apply existing ICC rules and rates to all traffic originating from or terminating to switched networks, strengthen call signaling requirements, and adopt reasonable rules to address access stimulation.
• Minimize opportunities and incentives for arbitrage by unifying intrastate and interstate ICC rates.
• Avoid arbitrary long-term ICC rate-setting goals such as “bill and keep” or a uniform rate applicable to all carriers.

To highlight the consequences of the FCC’s proposed rules, the rural telecom associations are beginning a Washington, DC-based print advertising campaign that warns that the proposed rule changes would “…result in lost jobs, less comprehensive health care, and blocked access to global markets, which would stifle innovation and hamper our nation’s competitiveness.” The ads urge policy makers to “… work together to modernize telecom policy for the broadband era – not send it backwards.”

The rural telecom associations have also launched a website, www.SaveRuralBroadband.org, a Facebook fan page, “Save Rural Broadband,” a Twitter handle, @SaveRuralBB, and a “Save Rural Broadband” YouTube channel, to inform consumers and encourage them to contact members of Congress to oppose the FCC’s proposed rule.

“The FCC’s proposed rules would have significant consequences, and consumers and their elected leaders in Washington need to be aware of them. Our advertising and online campaign will inform them of what is at stake and give consumers the means to make their concerns known. The future of rural broadband hangs in the balance, and rural America can’t afford to be silent on this issue,” stated Kelly Worthington, WTA’s executive vice president.

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The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association is the premier association representing more than 570 locally owned and controlled telecommunications cooperatives and commercial companies throughout rural and small-town America. NTCA provides its members with legislative, regulatory and industry representation; meetings; publications and educational programs; and an array of employee benefit programs. Visit us at www.ntca.org.

The Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) is the leading voice for rural telecommunications, representing approximately 470 small incumbent local exchange carriers serving rural areas of the United States. Its members include both commercial companies and cooperatives, which collectively serve more than 3 million customers. OPASTCO represents rural telecommunications interests before federal regulatory bodies and Congress, provides publications, and holds two conventions annually in January and July of each year, addressing the needs of the small telecommunications industry. The association has an affiliate 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Foundation for Rural Education and Development (FRED). Visit us at www.opastco.org.

Western Telecommunications Alliance (WTA) is a trade association whose membership is comprised of approximately 250 rural telecommunications carriers providing high-quality, voice, video and data services throughout rural areas in the 24 states west of the Mississippi River. On average, WTA member companies serve fewer than 3,000 access lines with fewer than 500 customers in each exchange. WTA’s members serve some of the most rural and hard-to-serve communities in the country and are on the forefront of bringing 21st Century telecommunications services to rural America. www.w-t-a.org.