TCT: A Case Study

How a Rural Telephone Company Transformed Itself into a Competitive IP Communications Company

Overview

Executives at TCT, such as President and General Manager Chris Davidson and Engineering Manager Richard Wardell, recognized in the late 1990s that in order to remain competitive they would need to add additional capabilities to their network to derive additional sources of revenue from their customer base, as well as stem line loss to competitive carriers and new technology such as cellular phones. In short, they needed to become more than just a phone company - they needed to become a total communications provider delivering many different forms of communications and entertainment services. This case study discusses the steps that TCT took to make this transition.

Introduction

TCT, formerly known as Tri-County Telephone and TCT West, is not your typical rural telephone company. While many rural telephone companies base their business plans on guaranteed governmental subsidies such as the Universal Service Fund (USF) or settlements from organizations such as the National Exchange Carriers Association (NECA), TCT recognized years ago that these funding mechanisms would most likely disappear at some point, and they needed to position their company and business to be self sufficient.

TCT also recognized that new IP-based technology such as wireless and Voice over IP (VoIP) would spawn even more competition for subscribers, yet another threat to their future business viability. These developments required TCT to aggressively prepare for an uncertain future with no guarantees. This meant a total transformation of the entire company, requiring change and new ways of thinking in all functional areas of the organization. Accomplishing this was no small task for this Independent Operating Company (IOC) in rural Wyoming.

This case study examines the transformation of TCT, a rural, yet very forward-thinking IOC that continues to face its challenges head on and is ever-evolving in order to stay competitive in today's telecommunications market. We'll discuss how they have leveraged Metaswitch's award-winning softswitch technology as well as Metaswitch technology partners in order to maintain their competitive edge.