Communicators, it is a look at some of the smaller phone, broadband and video providers and some of the issues they face. We want to introduce you to patricia jo boyers, president of a Company Called boycom vision that is located in Southeast Missouri. Patty boyers, what is it that boycom does . Patricia oh my goodness, peter, thank you for having me. It is an honor to represent my state. Southeast missouri is a predominantly rural area. We are at the foothills of the mountains. It is the mouth of the delta that runs through the Mississippi River and all the lush farmland in the state of arkansas. My husband and i are firstgeneration broadband, cable tv and phone supplier. We serve about five counties right at the cusp of the. Peter you say you serve about five counties. In what way . Patricia we are the broadband, video and phone provider. Peter just like and how many customers do you have . Patricia last check, we had 4,258. Peter can you make money with 4,258 customers in the broadband industry . Patricia absolutely, you can. We have everything as frugally as possible. I have no middleman. I have a very shallow bench. First string players. 17 employees. My husband and i built this company ourselves. We are firstgeneration providers. We had been in the underground Construction Business for about 18 years and then we had the opportunity to buy a home in rural Butler County where we born and raised and we had no video. We looked around and thought, how can we get video to our house . We decided to build our own and we started that singularly as a video provider in 1992. Then we marched into broadband and Internet Service and then subsequently the phone service. Peter patty boyers, when you look at the economies of scale, are your costs higher than an xfinity costs per customer . Patricia absolutely. It costs more for programming, more for broadband. When you think in terms of x amount of dollars per mile for a charter or comcast, they might have 200 or 300 homes they might cast in that mile or Apartment Building setting or metropolitan area. I am lucky to have three to five homes per mile cast. So yes, the disparity is great. It costs us more for broadcast stations in the district. It is a different story for the rural provider. Peter when you think about legislative and regulatory issues, what are your big concerns . And what is helpful and what is harmful to you . Patricia what is helpful to me is organizations like the intervening organizations and we belong to. Their are a litany of others that are probably just as effective. The aca has adapted over the last 20 years. The best thing for us is we operate lean and mean. We understand our business. We understand our communities and we understand the customers that we serve, and in order for us to do that, the best way for us is for government to get out of my way and let me run my business the way i do. Peter do you find that washington gets in your way . Patricia oh my gosh. How much time you got, peter . [laughter] we have office space, and in our office building, not always do you have a irs and all the Public Service commissions, but you have the fcc, and they are always trying to somebody wants a piece of something. There is regulatory. The department of natural resources. We deal with the department of conservation. We border the ozark nation. We have to count on their support. We have lots of entities that we have to deal with on a daily basis. Peter you mentioned aca connects. We want to bring matt polka into this conversation. He has been on the the communicators before, and he is president and ceo of aca connects, which is what . Matthew aca connects is a nationwide organization that serves approximately 800 smaller, independent companies all across the United States and many of the territories. It is so great to be with you here today with our chairman, patty boyers from Southeast Missouri. She is representative of who are members are and why we exist as an organization. We started way back in 1993 because of that the disproportionate impact of federal regulations and laws on smaller communications providers. That principle still exists today. We fight to help our members not only to succeed, but also to work handinhand with washington, the congress, the senate, the house, the white house and many agencies on sensible laws and regulations that allow our members to invest and deploy and serve their customers needs. When you were listening to patty boyers, what you hear as far as concerns when it comes to washington . Matthew it goes back to that very principle that we fight for and that is there is a difference between providing broadband, phone, and Cable Service in densely populated, urban areas, versus areas where patty is serving today. Four of those five counties, i know that she notes are perpetually impoverished in federal standards. These are very remote places that are hard to serve, but as she pointed out it cost the same to build that mile of broadband phone or Internet Service. As we work with washington handinhand, we are with them in lockstep in saying to them, we are with you in serving rural areas with Rural Broadband service, but you have to understand how our members differ than those larger providers that serve urban areas. That is a general principle in terms of what we do at aca connects. There are many rulemakings that we work on at the fcc, many bills we work on up in congress. But primarily it is saying to washington, we are here to work with you handinhand, we live and work in these areas, work with us and understand the difference and we will make sure to get these problems solved together. Peter a question for both of you, how has the pandemic affected your business . Patricia matt, do you want me to go . Matthew go ahead. Patricia i will tell you something, peter, i am 62 years old and i do not believe that i have ever seen something quite like this. When this all hit, everybody went home, and everybody agreed to shelter in place. Missouri had a little bit different take on that than east and the west coast. Independent the urban providers especially those at the aca, we didnt go home. We went to work. We literally had to lean into the pandemic because our networks were going to be challenged. Nobody had ever faced a challenge quite like what we saw in the pandemic. What we learned coming out on onhers of this is that the other side of this is that our networks got stronger. We put out more cable. Coming up with creative ways of providing more robust broadband for those folks. Yes we did, and we still are. So what we learned is that the american ingenuity, the american drive, the american, get up, pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and lean into something is alive and well in broadband providers in the country. Matt i would say that on behalf of our association, we are strong and engaged more than ever by the way of telling our members story and working with the congress, the fcc and other agencies. Our work is ongoing. Like patty said, we never stopped. We do miss seeing each other, but we are learning how to do that more effectively with technology today. I would echo pattys comments regarding how our members really just jumped into the pandemic to say, we are on the ground. We live and work in these areas that we serve, and we need to keep people connected as they are coming home from work, from school, from colleges, from hospitals, wherever they were working, to do their work at home and rely on that broadband service. The stories we have seen across our membership, it really is an untold story, a great story about the pandemic and how people truly have been connected with their broadband connection because of members of aca connects and we are very proud of them and what they have done. Patricia can i interject a little bit here, just to be a little bit more specific . One of the things that we learned very quickly that second week of march is that we didnt close our front door to our customers, our foot traffic. Rallied my employees in a meeting and we talked about protecting our own bubble. We segregated the people in the office from the gentlemen in the field, and the ladies in the field, and we initiated what i called the policy. We went to work, coming up with innovative ways to we ran fiber optics through peoples windows, modems on peoples porches, we sat out in the driveway on the phone and we talked to people who had to hook their modem up themselves. We were given ppe from the local laboratory. So we could take care of fiberoptics whenever the ceo went home to work. That kind of subsidized the industry for us. One of the things that became scarce immediately was the closing of packing houses, the readily available ground beef. So we had all of the cows sent to the slaughter, and we gave all the beef to our employees. We send 1200 pounds of ground beef and said, take it home and you eat it. It was not that they couldnt afford to buy it, you can buy it. Things like that. That is how we rolled our sleeves up. Peter patty boyers, when it comes to telecom, did you see a strain on your broadband or an increase in the usage . What has been the impact of zoom, that product on your company . Patricia oh my goodness. I love zoom. It is a great equalizer. It has allowed us to be in the offices. If you are looking at the screen, my face is the same size as your face and matts face. Up on the hill in person, on charter, he fills up the doorway bigger than i do. Zoom has been a great equalizer. It has allowed us to remain connected to one another. It has also allowed us to be creative and allowed us to come up with innovative ways to stay connected to our associations, our legislators, just about everyone, to cspan. It has helped us stay connected to cspan. Matthew if i could add, as the pandemic was starting, of course, there was great concern not only in washington, but across the country as millions of people were heading home to work, as a said before, and there was great concern that Broadband Networks couldnt meet the need. Initially we saw an incredible surge in usage. Upload speeds, etcetera, in particular. But during the pandemic, what we determined through a study we did with all of our members is because of the ability of our members have had over the last four years to invest and innovate and deploy, to use new and alternative technologies they were actually preparing to meet this pandemic before it even happened. Then once we were in the pandemic situation, the Broadband Networks, because of that investment in innovation and deployment were ready to meet the need. What we found through our survey was that there was capacity to spare. So our members were ready to meet the need and continue to do so today because, we know to your point about the question regarding zoom, i think this kind of technology will be part of our new normal when we go forward and we will see greater usage from home as people slowly migrate back to the office or maybe not even at all. The fact that we are prepared, we are able, and meeting the need Going Forward is a testament to what our members have been able to do through their investment, innovation and deployment. Peter matt polka, during the pandemic, have you seen cordcutting increase, decrease, what . Matthew it has been an interesting dynamic to watch. Certainly, streaming is very popular, more popular than ever. Since the pandemic started we have seen new streaming Services Come online, certainly with things like disney plus and now the peacock network, where consumers are being driven to new streaming choices. Cordcutting is certainly an issue. Cordcutting is being driven by a lot of reasons, many of them would have talked about before, the higher cost of retransmission consent which is what broadcasters call their free over the air signals which drives cable Prices Higher and higher, pushing customers more to streaming options. But the good news is that a company even like pattys, even in rural missouri, because the Broadband Networks have the options to give consumers the choices they want. Certainly we still have a segment of our subscribership, our Customer Base that is very committed to cable as a service, but as consumers make their own choices about what they want to consume most, we have those options for them, whether it is streaming only, cable only, or a mix, which we are seeing more. Peter patty boyers, is cable a 21st Century Technology . Patricia the traditional video is for the most part still a 21st Century Technology in my neck of the woods. One of the things about this pandemic, when they first came out and talked about it all be, somebody being in the same boat. That is not the case. We were all in the same storm but in slightly different boats. My boat is different on the Technology Side than from the boats on the east and west coast and even the metropolitan areas. I still have a section of my Customer Base that is impoverished, that they dont have the Credit Rating or credit card to even pay for these services over the top. Of the Cable Television products is still viable for our neck of the woods. However, we see that migrating more and more, i would say. For us, the cordcutting didnt necessarily hit, but it certainly slowed down as more people went home and the uncertainty of their income became more prevalent. We saw more people hooking back up their cable tv, but we also saw an increase in Broadband Usage and in broadband customers. One of the main things we are working towards in this Digital Divide is to get broadband in every home. But it is also to get it affordable and get it to those folks who never really wanted it. Those are some of the challenges that we have. So things are different in Southeast Missouri than even they are in st. Louis. Which is about three and a half hours away. Peter so, patty, have the streaming services that are coming online, are they helping your business . Patricia absolutely. The goal of any broadband provider is to provide the biggest, the smartest, and the most reliable. For your consumers, if they want to watch netflix, cbs live, whatever their flavor is, they can get that. With my broadband products. They can get it directly. They can get what they want, watch when they want to watch it. There is a huge percentage of our Customer Base that does utilize that. Absolutely it makes the broadband. We are in different as a broadband provider as to what you watch. But you will need that in your house. Peter matt, a lot of your job involves being in washington talking to regulators, talking to members of congress. What have the last several months been like for you . Matthew different for sure but very much the same. After we sort of all got over the shock of what we were dealing with collectively in the pandemic sort of in our own little worlds, we realized there is still much more work to do. So, we jumped in, as did the commission at the fcc and their staffs, as well as the staffs and members of congress, using zoom and other platforms to connect. I do this now daily on an everyday basis. We are seeing members of congress, the fcc, their staff, our staff at aca connects is doing the same thing. Our members are doing it with us as we join on zoom with members of congress and their staff, etc. Our business goes on. But frankly, it is very much the same, only using technology now that really is enabled by the Broadband Networks provided by our aca connects members and other broadband providers. We are very much engaged on every day basis. We continue to do what we always do since 1993 when we first started this organization, and that is look forward to every day when we have the opportunity to work with the house, we work with the senate, we work with the majority, we work with the minority, it does not matter. We are interested in working with people at the fcc, as well as on capitol hill, to help solve problems. These unique, particular problems in rural areas, and we are still doing it. We look forward to doing it. I will say this to you. I have not been back in washington since february. I am looking forward to come back and seeing folks facetoface and really engaging with them, but i am very, very happy and pleased to have this opportunity that we have now through technology to stay connected with them. Peter should broadband, this is a question for both of you, be included in any infrastructure bill that might come before congress . Matthew peter, let me start with the answer. I think broadband is today a certainly critical element of our nations infrastructure. There is no doubt that what we have seen over the past six months has really emphasized and underscored the need for broadband connections. And i do think that there are important things that congress and the fcc can do by way of an infrastructure bill or any kind of Infrastructure Movement that will really help to solve many of the gaps that might still exist. For instance, our members have done such a great job of serving their communities and meeting the need and keeping americans connected with so many of our members stepping up to adopt the fccs pledge to keep americans connected. But by the same token, we have also recognized that there are still continuing needs, needs to serve students, needs to work with schools, needs to work with hospitals and medical facilities so we can improve telehealth, ways that we can increase Broadband Network speeds, that we can serve unserved areas. Frankly, we think its very important to establish a mindset of really private and public activity to solve these. What i mean by that is private the way patty is using her own financing in many ways, finding financing to serve her rural communities, but with the help of the federal government to help fill those gaps to make sure that we are connecting with the people that need to be connected most and serving those unserved areas. Its a very big country. You know what . We need to work in public and private ways to help fill those gaps. Peter patty boyers . Patricia peter, to add to what matt has been saying, its not a onesizefitsall. We have socialeconomic issues here, we have demographic issues here, geographic issues here. The independent, rural provider. The fcc talked about the Digital Divide. Expand the Digital Divide. Most of those independent, rural providers are on the edge of that Digital Divide. I have service that runs right up to the Mark Twain National forest, there might be a patch in the middle of the forest, private land, and somebody decides they want to live there. If they want it, we have to utilize lots of different technologies. We utilize wireless. We utilize. 2 multi point, point to point. We partner with the local electric cooperatives. Things like that, also regional planning. The state of missouri has rolled out a wonderful plan, and nobody knows missouri better than the state of missouri. So, our governor has launched this wonderful plan. He is rolling it out where you can apply for pocket grants if you match where you can get into these areas. With that kind of a partnership with the state of missouri, we are investing 50 of the money, they are investing 50 of the money, and we can reach some more of these folks that were unreachable monetarily. We have a saying in Southeast Missouri. We would rather go to bed at night hungry than tired and hungry. We have to be able to pay our bills at the end of the day, provide a working wage for employees and Management Team and still be able to provide to our consumers the product that they need and meet them where they are. Peter final question for both of you, lets start with patty. Do you consider the fcc to be an ally . Patricia today . Yes. In the past, not so much. Im sorry, go ahead, matt. It is a working relationship. It has been refreshing to work with the fcc. Our company joined the aca when it was not even the aca. It was a small cable tv providers association. We have kind of run handinhand through this whole thing together. Over the years, regulatorily, the fcc has had many regulations. With the chairman now, the fcc is reversing many of those and invoking this lighter touch that allows the industry to flex its muscles, utilize its own capital to build these networks. If there was ever a test passed with a straight a, it was the networks. We have scorecards now to prove that the tests and availability of capital to invest in our company and then the investment was made and now the products we have been in washington with our Association Since 1993. We have certainly learned a lot. We have been very privileged to be there on behalf of our members every day representing their independent voice. Candidly, and im not just saying this, but we consider them all allies. We have worked with many fccs over the years, we have worked with many congresses, and many members both on the commission as well as on capitol hill. There are plenty of times where we disagree and we disagree strongly, but we disagree with respect, knowing that we are committed at aca connects to make sure our members voices are heard and represented. Frankly, what i have learned, in most things, whether its a new congress or a new fcc, there are things you are going to like as an association and may be as a company and there are things you are going to dislike. What i have found and what we have found for sure is that we have been privileged to work with washington, to roll up our sleeves, as we are doing now, looking forward to how we can make broadband more available, to increase adoption, increase speeds to meet the needs. We look forward to working together in this Public Private way to ensure that our members can stay viable, can recover their costs, can invest, while at the same time, we also work with washington on the very Important Role that they have in overseeing our industry. So, its a pleasure and a privilege and an honor that we have to work with washington each and every day. Peter matt polkas president and ceo of aca connects and patricia joe boyers is vice chair of the board of the president of in missouri. 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