Biggest Telecom Company CAF II Winner Will Use the $52 Million for Fixed Wireless

Benton Ridge Telephone Company can trace its roots back over 100 years to when it started out as a rural telephone company serving the OH community with the same name. The largest part of the company’s business now, however, is its wireless internet service provider unit known as Watch Communications, which offers service in parts of rural OH, IN and IL. When the company decided to bid – and ultimately won over $52 million – in the Connect America Fund II auction, its plan was to use fixed wireless for the project area. We talked recently with Greg Jarman, chief operating officer for the CAF II winner, about the company’s plans for the funding, which will be distributed to the company over a period of 10 years. The project area includes additional areas of the three states that Watch already serves. “By land mass, it’s an 84% of our coverage area expansion,” Jarman said.