INDATEL Helps to Drive Traffic for Range Telephone Cooperative
INDATEL Helps to Drive Traffic for Range Telephone Cooperative
Overland Park, KS – March 3, 2021 – INDATEL is proud to have maintained relationships with our members over the years. In fact, many of our current INDATEL members have been with us since the very beginning. One such member is Range Telephone Cooperative, a local exchange carrier providing telecommunication services to southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming.
Established in 1953 as a non-profit cooperative, Range serves over 13,000 broadband subscribers to over 30 communities, operates over 4,700 miles of fiber-optic network, and employs more than 160 communications experts. Collectively, the executives that lead Range have a combined 150 years of experience in the communications and broadband industry. The corporation continues to grow and fulfill the demand for next-generation communication services.
According to Aaron Sopko, Vice President at Range Telephone Cooperative, Range started working with INDATEL back in the day as more of a marketing opportunity for their networks. “We used our initial relationship with INDATEL Group to promote our company and our network,” he said. “We decided to stay on when we had the opportunity to jump on board with INDATEL Services and have been with them ever since.”
Range believes in the mission of INDATEL and like other INDATEL members, has experienced it come to life. “We feel INDATEL allows us a great opportunity to tell our story to a more national audience and drive traffic to the networks we have built and invested so much in,” Aaron said. “There are so many of us invested in statewide fiber networks that don’t have the ability to reach beyond our borders on our own. That’s where INDATEL comes in.”
Range has been an advocate of the services INDATEL provides since day one. “The whole concept of INDATEL really sets them apart in the industry,” Aaron said. “As they’ve grown, the number of networks they’ve pulled together and the recognition they’ve received from it has also expanded. Our ability to share that traffic across those networks is a unique benefit on its own.”
As a result of COVID-19, Range has seen an impact on both the wholesale and retail sides of their business. While there have been both positive and negative impacts, Range has been very fortunate and continued to grow their network amongst the chaos of the pandemic.
As for the future, Range is committed to network growth and building additional redundancy into their network. “We want to be a recognized network and have folks know our routes,” Aaron said. “Based on our experience thus far, I see our relationship with INDATEL growing. They’ve done a fantastic job in a short amount of time in growing the overall nationwide network.”
About INDATEL
INDATEL Services provides fiber connectivity utilizing its unique independent member-owned network. INDATEL’s members represent more than 400,000 fiber-optic route miles and over 1.5 million serviceable buildings primarily focused on rural and suburban America. INDATEL serves its customers through its national aggregation PoPs, reaching over 700 independent providers currently operating in 47 states. For more information about INDATEL Services, visit www.indatel.com.
