ABOUT US - COOPERATIVE

Gowrie, Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Knierim, Somers, Barnum, Farnhamville, Moorland,

Vincent, Thor, Duncombe, Badger, Clare, Lohrville, Manson, Rockwell City, and Lake City.

Services coming soon to locations in Rural Fort Dodge!

WCCTA currently serves 21 communities and is growing in rural north-central Iowa. As a cooperative it is locally based, owned by all its members, and at a reasonable cost provides the best possible service to all of its subscribers.

WCCTA Staff

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WHAT IS A COOPERATIVE?

Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Telephone Association was incorporated in 1954, an at its core, began as a telephone service because no other companies wanted to serve rural areas because it was too expensive. Locals banded together to create a cooperative to provide the service and the rest is history.

Each time you subscribe to one of WCCTA's services, you are not just becoming a customer; you are actually making an investment in a company you and your neighbors actually own. Once the operating costs and reinvestment in your co-op have been met, the Board of Directors refunds the remaining money to the members in the form of Capital Credits. The amount refunded varies from year to year.

WHO ARE COOPERATIVE MEMBERS?

Customers in the Gowrie, Pilot Mound, Boxholm, Lanyon, Paton, Churdan, Knierim, Somers, Barnum, Farnhamville, Moorland, Vincent, Thor, Duncombe, Badger, and Clare telephone exchanges are considered members of the cooperative.

With the investment in Fiber to the Home beginning in 2020, customers in Lohrville, Manson, Rockwell City, and Lake City will not be considered a member of the cooperative until a reasonable return on investment is gained. The Board of Directors will re-evaluate in the future.

Webster-Calhoun has partnered with Central Cable Contractors of Waupun, WI and Vantage Point Solutions of Mitchell, SD to construct buried fiber cable to approximately 700 locations in the rural area around Fort Dodge. In September 2021, WCCTA was awarded $2,604,458.36 as part of NOFA # 006 which is 58.48% of the project cost for identified Census Blocks to fund approximately 260 locations. In October 2023, WCCTA was awarded $1,329,294.09 which is 60% of the project cost for 98 locations identified as part of NOFA # 008.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Cooperative members elect each representative on the Board of Directors. Their job is to oversee the local operation of your cooperative and protect your investment.

ALLOCATION NOTICE

Each year anyone that did qualifying business with Webster-Calhoun receives an "Allocation Notice." This notice shows the total amount of dollars allocated, or set aside, and will be returned to you at a later date. This includes the previous calendar year and totals from other years not yet retired.

CAPITAL CREDITS

In order to operate the business, capital credits remain with the cooperative for a certain amount of time before they are returned to the members. Rural cooperatives, like any other business, must have some money on hand to provide current operating funds and to invest in facilities. When a retirement is declared, capital credit checks are issued to members.

WCCTA Named Certified Gig-Capable Provider

Increasing broadband in our rural area is a national initiative and by becoming a Certified Gig-Capable provider, WCCTA is staying in touch with the needs of the residents and businesses in their sixteen community area.

As Certified Gig-Capable Providers, these companies join a national campaign spearheaded by NTCA to build awareness and industry recognition of community-based telecom providers that have built communications
networks capable of delivering Internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, which is 100 times faster than those currently available in many U.S. households.

“I applaud Webster-Calhoun Cooperative Association for its commitment to delivering the Internet’s fastest speeds—an accomplishment worthy of much praise considering the unique and challenging circumstances small, community-based telecommunications providers operate under every day in serving some of our country’s most rural and remote communities,” said NTCA Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield. “By building a gigabit-capable network, WCCTA has not only overcome these challenges, but also shattered conventional benchmarks for broadband speed to enable cutting-edge technologies that drive innovation and promote economic development in their communities, region and nationwide.”

To achieve certification, telecommunications companies must show that gigabit technology is currently commercially available within 95% of one or more exchanges within its serving territory and that such service can be provided without new trenching or stringing new aerial facilities. This statement must be confirmed by a letter from an engineering firm or other independent source involved in the company’s network planning, deployment or operation.