OPASTCO (also known as the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies; formerly the Organization for the Protection and Advancement of Small Telephone Companies) was a United States telecommunications trade association for rural, independent telecommunications companies that operated apart from the Regional Bell Operating Companies.
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On February 7, 2013, OPASTCO announced it would merge with the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association to form a new organization known as NTCA, The Rural Broadband Association.
Origins
OPASTCO was created in 1963, inspired from a meeting of representatives of small telephone companies held in Memphis, Tennessee, to discuss perceived flaws in the Federal Communications Commission's Schedule Toll B Settlements average schedule formula, which concerned how telephone companies were compensated for calls handled via automatic ticketing machines as opposed to operator-completed calls. By 1966, OPASTCO counted approximately 100 small telephone company members, located predominantly in the southeastern United States.
Membership and activities
As of 2008, OPASTCO has more than 600 rural telecommunications company and industry-vendor members, which are located in 40 states and Canada and serve an estimated five million customers. OPASTCO's advocacy efforts include representing its members' interests with respect to universal service and the Universal Service Fund, intercarrier compensation, access to video content for cable and Internet protocol television (IPTV) systems, and other emerging topics, such as broadband and next-generation networks and infrastructure in rural America, before the United States Congress and the FCC.
OPASTCO also publishes and commissions various printed publications, white papers, academic studies, and online resources to educate its members and the public at large on its positions regarding rural telecommunications. OPASTCO also holds two conventions twice per year, as well as other conferences and symposiums.
As of November 2008, OPASTCO currently is involved with negotiations with the FCC regarding reform of contributions to and support received by telecommunications carriers from the Universal Service Fund, and intercarrier compensation, or compensation between telecommunications carriers for voice traffic, be it wireline or wireless, completed on one another's telecom networks.