| Resource Type | Report |
| Author / Source | Jeff Johnston and Tom Binet (CoBank Knowledge Exchange) |
| Publication Date | August 2019 |
| Location | United States |
| Initiative Type | Partnership, Program |
| Project Complexity | Intermediate |
| Recommended For | Board, Staff |
Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
Why This Matters for Rural Electric Co-ops
For a co-op that does not want to build and run a broadband business alone, this report explains what makes a partnership with a rural telephone company work, so each side does what it does best. CoBank found these partnerships are uncommon but, done right, benefit both sides. The telco diversifies revenue beyond its declining regulated base, and the electric cooperative gains a network that can also support advanced metering, outage notification, and demand response.
The value is in the operating detail. Drawing on interviews with telcos and electric co-ops that have partnered, it recommends a joint steering committee meeting regularly, with sales, engineering, finance, and operations staff from both sides. It also stresses defining each party's responsibilities for shared customers and infrastructure once the business model is agreed. A co-op can use it to structure a telco partnership around the practices these successful partnerships shared.
Key Takeaways
| › | A telco partnership lets an electric co-op extend member broadband and gain smart grid benefits without running a retail internet business alone. |
| › | A joint steering committee with both partners' sales, engineering, finance, and operations staff is the recommended coordination structure. |
| › | Defining each party's responsibilities for shared customers and infrastructure, once the business model is agreed, is a step the report calls critical. |
| › | Fixed wireless can serve unserved areas quickly as a stop-gap before fiber, an approach one featured partnership planned. |
Implementation Considerations
- Regulatory or Governance Considerations: Roles, the business model, and responsibility for shared customers and infrastructure should be defined in the agreement up front. The report treats this clarity as essential to a working partnership.
- Staffing or Technology Requirements: A partnership lets a co-op contribute infrastructure without staffing a full retail broadband operation, which suits capacity-constrained co-ops. It still requires committed staff time on the joint steering committee.
- Time-Sensitive Information: The report dates to 2019. Its core partnership lessons still hold, but specific funding references such as RDOF, and the broader funding and competitive landscape, have shifted since, so treat those details as dated.
Notable Examples
- CoBank: Cooperative lender whose Knowledge Exchange research unit interviewed rural telco and electric co-op executives to identify partnership best practices.
- RiverStreet Networks and North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives: Featured partnership deploying fixed wireless as a stop-gap, with fiber to follow.
Estimated reading time: 15 minutes
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