Annual Meeting Theme: Success Amid Rising Competition
Randy Sukow
|
CEO Tim Bryan’s address to the 2024 NRTC Annual Meeting will center around the ways NRTC can help its members be successful. That theme is especially important now as rural providers face growing levels of competition for broadband services. Bryan will have much to say about steps NRTC took in 2023 and how those actions could improve members’ competitive standing in the future.
Bryan’s speech will be the highlight of both the telephone and electric-industry sessions of the annual meeting. The telco session, in conjunction with NTCA’s RTIME Conference and Expo in Tampa, will be at the Tampa Marriott Water Street, Tampa, FL, on Feb. 13. Electric members will meet March 3 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, in San Antonio, TX, during NRECA’s PowerXchange/TechAdvantage.
In addition to Bryan’s address, members at both sessions will hear from NRTC Board Chairman Jimmy Todd. NRTC also will announce the results of elections for one telephone-industry seat and four electric-industry seats on the NRTC Board of Directors. NRTC members are voting on those seats electronically prior to the annual meeting sessions.
Outside of the annual meeting, NRTC staff will participate in other RTIME and TechAdvantage activities.
Much of the attention at the RTIME (Booth #301) and TechAdvantage (Booth #1449) exhibit floors will be on demonstrations of the new Broadband Consumer Labels service from NRTC’s CrowdFiber. The online process allows ISPs of all sizes to efficiently generate, display, and archive broadband service data beginning in 2024, as required by new FCC regulations.
Staff at the RTIME booth will be on hand to answer questions about the recently established mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) solution that NRTC is offering exclusively to NTCA members. Rural broadband providers can increase subscribership and build customer loyalty by bunding mobile voice and data services through NRTC Mobile Solutions.
The TechAdvantage booth will feature a demonstration of private LTE technology, drawing on experience gained during a project with NRTC member West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative. Members can hear more about the project during “Use Cases Enabled by Smart Grid Networks and How to Enable Them,” a TechAdvantage session scheduled for Monday morning, March 4. Presenters will include Joe Walsh, NRTC VP, Smart Grid Advisory and Networks, and Justin McCann, VP of Engineering, West Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative.
Chris Beatson, chief technology officer and VP, Engineering for NRTC Broadband Solutions, will moderate another Monday morning TechAdvantage session, “Hard Fought Lessons Learned: Members’ Experiences Standing Up and Running Broadband Businesses.” Panelists with experience facing daily operational challenges will include NRTC Board Vice Chairman Lynn Hodges of Ralls County Electric Cooperative in Missouri, Cameron Smallwood of United Cooperative Services in Texas, and Randy Smith of Dixie Electric Power Association in Mississippi.
On Tuesday afternoon, March 5, representatives from NRTC and its solar/storage partner ENGIE will present a TechTalk session entitled “Evolution of Renewables and Corporate Offtake Opportunities.” It will be an interactive discussion of wind, solar, and storage trends and issues. TechTalks are half-hour sessions on the TechAdvantage exhibit floor that focus on a specific technology topics.
