RTC celebrates sales growth, challenges at annual meeting
RTC celebrates sales growth, challenges at annual meeting
By Jerry W. Kram
Royce Aslakson had reason to be optimistic when he gave his presentation as CEO and General Manager of Reservation Telephone Cooperative at the organization’s annual meeting in Parshall.
The cooperative is witnessing a boom in its revenue and customer base due to the region’s oil boom and now serves nearly 10,000 customers. The cooperative is even witnessing a significant growth in the number of landline telephone customers despite the growing use of cell phones.
Aslakson told the crowd of more than 200 cooperative members that RTC’s revenue increased by nearly 15 percent from 2011 to 2012 to $23.4 million. Expenses increased by a similar amount, to $22.2 million, leaving the cooperative with net income of $1.2 million. RTC’s revenue has doubled since 2007. The cooperative’s assets grew from $61.5 million to $68.5 million.
Aslakson said the cooperative had growth in all its services. The cooperative installed an additional 600 access lines, going from 9,101 in 2011 to 9,708 in 2012. He added that as of June, 2013, the number of RTC access lines stood at 9,959. High speed internet connections increased from 4,821 to 5,620. Video increased slightly from 3,069 to 3,166. The number of homes with a direct fiber optic connection grew from 3,137 to 4,322. Aslakson said he expects to see the cooperative’s video service grow as more homes are connected to high-speed fiber connections.
RTC is continuing network upgrade projects in five of its service areas that were begun in 2012. New projects will begin in the Watford City and Roseglen exchanges in 2013.
Aslakson said the cooperative has added a new service, networked security systems for homes, businesses and industrial sites. He said anyone with an internet connection could monitor their home or business, even if they were on vacation in Arizona. RTC started the service in March of 2012 and has installed 44 systems.
