Happy National Co-Op Month.

With days like “National Pie Day,” it can be easy to waive celebrations like this aside, but there’s much to celebrate about cooperatives.

In America, there are more than 40,000 cooperatives that provide critical services, jobs and opportunities to what a study by the University of Wisconsin estimates to be 350 million members.

This isn’t just a celebration of what all co-ops do, but their members also.

This year’s theme – “Build Back for Impact” – is celebrating how coops and their members are working together in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout the pandemic, rural Americans found themselves needing high-speed internet for work, education and healthcare, as the pandemic caused a major shift in office, school and day-today life.

For tele-communication companies like Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, this shined light on our current projects - and future ones - by highlighting the drastic need for high-quality, fast and affordable internet in rural areas.

For Pioneer, coming together and recognizing the need in communities that have been, or will be, underserved with quality broadband is essential.

Many in rural Oklahoma have internet through the form of DSL (digital subscriber line) through copper or a “fixed wireless” connection for customers within sight of a cell tower.

The problem with these options is that they are slowly putting rural Oklahomans at a disadvantage in comparison to Oklahomans in urban areas.

Many cities across the U.S. have access to fiber-tothe-home (FTTH) internet, the latest and greatest technology that provides unmatched internet speeds and reliability.

Pioneer Telephone has over $123 million in completed or approved FTTH projects as of Oct. 1, 2021, with several additional contracts scheduled for the board of trustees approval in early 2022.

In the last few months, we have also announced new overbuild projects in Fairview, Woodward and Weatherford.

Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, along with numerous fiber construction contractors, are building out our fiber-optic network as quickly as we possibly can.

While Pioneer is funding over $58.5 million for these projects, we aren’t in this alone.

Through government initiatives like the Alternative-Connect America Cost Model (A-CAM) and the USDA Re-Connect grant project, Pioneer is getting even greater support to provide vital infrastructure to communities that have been overlooked by larger telecommunication companies.

The A-CAM project is a 10-year government initiative that began in 2017 and the USDA Re-Connect grant project, a program which will provide Pioneer Telephone nearly $24 million in a 75/25 percent grant initiative, for a total of $64 million.

In our increasingly digital world, ultra-fast broadband access through all-fiber connectivity will drive innovation, productivity and our economy.

It’s Pioneer’s belief that people living in rural communities deserve the same access to fast, reliable, all-fiber networks as citizens living in urban areas.

This month, we’re not just building back for impact.

We’re building forward and celebrating our commitment to keeping our communities connected with the greatest technology accessible.