Locally Owned Rural Telcos Establish Hotspots to Meet Demand during Pandemic

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Mountain Rural Telephone, Peoples Rural Telephone (PRTC), and Thacker-Grigsby Telephone are providing free hotspots for families that do not have broadband at home. The hotspots are primarily for school, community college, and GED students to complete their nontraditional instruction while face-to-face instruction is on hold. But the hotspots are available to anyone. Each of these telecommunications companies began business over 50 years ago, bringing much-needed telephone service to these remote, sparsely populated areas with descriptive names such as Possum Trot, Hard Shell, and Wheel Rim.  Mountain Rural and Peoples Rural Telephone (PRTC) are cooperatives, and Thacker-Grigsby is privately owned.