My favorite ViodiTV stories are the ones that deal with people. After all, technology in the telecom industry should be transparent and facilitate the connecting of people. As such, I was extremely excited to find out that one of the sharpest young technologists in the business, Shaun Carlson of Gardonville Cooperative Telephone Association, had a family connection to the business. His father, Steve Carlson, recently retired from a long career at Dakota Supply Group.

I have known Shaun through his speaking engagements at various industry events. At last year’s IP Possibilities, Shaun and I became “Facebook Friends” and, as a result, formed ties that extend to our respective Churches, even though are Churches are a thousand-plus miles away from each other. I have been impressed with Shaun’s ability to be a technology bridge for his community. What impresses me most is how he finds time serve our Country via the Air National Guard, as well as be a youth leader at his Church.

So, I was thrilled to meet Shaun’s dad, Steve, at this event. Through his work at Dakota Supply Group, he helped the independent telcos and their rural communities through a career of service. While researching their web site for this post, I noticed that DSG has a special club for the children of their employees and their customers. Kids who join the club receive a membership packet, t-shirt and opportunities to participate in contests; in short; it is a good community building thing for rural communities.
This video interview with Steve and Shaun Carlson embodies the theme of MTA’s 2009 Convention of cherishing the past and embracing the future.

He suggested that the existing commodity farm programs might have hindered the development of the kind of entrepreneurial economy necessary to spur the innovation that will provide long-term competitive success.  He provided some interesting statistics showing that rural areas lag behind the metro areas in most measures of income and job growth. 

A regional approach is his recipe for rural economic growth.  A region provides the opportunity to create a critical mass.  To prosper, regions must:

-          Craft a regional strategy

-          Build robust regional governance

-          Deliberately pursue innovation

-          Grow a lot of entrepreneurs

Creating a strategy that takes into account a region’s competitive advantages, identifies its assets and maps a strategic direction will help align public and private investment and clearly define the help required from the State and/or Federal Governments. 

He pointed out that, although broadband is important, it is what you do with it – the applications if you will – that are the most important to a rural area.  He also suggested that independent telcos are in the unique position to influence regional leaders and be the King Author of their communities, since their exchanges often extend beyond political boundaries. 

His talk was very thought provoking.  The one question I did not ask, but would have like his opinion on, is the influence of weather and geography on economic development.  I am convinced that these factors probably play more into Silicon Valley’s development than anything our regional leaders have done.  His talk on economic development and exploiting assets made me think of our Silicon Plains video we produced on Mitchell, South Dakota.  In that case, the biggest asset seems to be the critical mass of skilled engineering talent that Mitchell has managed to draw. 

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OPASTCO U As usual, experts covered a diverse set of topics that ranged from finance to marketing to technology. A take-away from these presentations is that independent telcos and their vendors are beginning to embrace the idea of Internet-delivered video.

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Larry Thompson, CEO of Vantage Point Solutions discusses the various architectures that independent telcos are deploying and the challenges they face.

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Robert Primosch of Wilkinson, Barker and Knauer, LLP emphasized the need for independent telcos to communicate to the FCC on a regular basis, so the FCC understands the challenges and barriers to bringing affordable broadband to rural America.

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In this one-on-one interview, Phil Erli, Executive Vice President of Ringgold Telephone, suggests one way to grow is by “embracing the competition”.