Indiana
Telecommunications Association
April 2008 Newsletter
Hot off the presses! Click here to read more...
2008 ITA Awards
Nominations now open. Click here
for
more information.
Make your reservations for the
2008 Annual Convention
88th Annual Convention, June 3-5,
2008, French Lick Springs Resort Casino, French Lick,
Indiana.
To reserve overnight
rooms, call the hotel directly, toll free,
1-800-MYHIDEAWAY.
Be sure to use group code *INTELEC*
when calling in order to receive the group rate of
$139/single, $78pp/double.
**Reservations
should be made as soon as possible but prior to May 1**
Click
HERE
for more information regarding the 88th Annual
Convention or
REGISTER NOW for the 88th Annual Convention!
2007 Exchange Area Maps
NEW 2007 Exchange Area Maps are available.
Order your map here.
About the ITA
The Indiana Telecommunications Association (ITA) is a non-profit trade association representing Indiana's telecommunications industry. Our members include 40 local competitive wireline and wireless companies and over 125 companies that supply goods and services to telecommunications companies.
ITA membership is divided into four categories:
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Category I - local exchange carriers serving Indiana
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Category II - companies authorized to do business in Indiana and operate a telecom company.
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Category III - suppliers of equipment and services to the member telecom companies
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Category IV - individual membership
All membership applications must be approved by the Board of Directors.
The ITA hosts three regularly scheduled meetings throughout the year which include a Spring Meeting held in April, a Convention in June, and a December Conference in December. Additionally, the ITA administers a trade show, the Midwest Telecom Expo, in cooperation with the Ohio Telecommunications Association and the Telecommunications Association of Michigan, held in late October each year in Fort Wayne. This trade show includes over 100 exhibit booths featuring the latest offerings in products and services from the telecommunications industry along with an educational program filled with industry speakers. The Midwest Telecom Expo draws over 600 professionals from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois. The ITA also hosts seminars and conferences on various educational topics as needs or issues arise.
The ITA Story
A trade group representing the interests of the local exchange telephone industry, the Indiana Telecommunications Association is made up of 40 member telephone companies.
Organized in 1919, the Association was established to maintain high standards of operation, promote good customer and public relations with telephone consumers, promote the industry itself, preserve information valuable to the members, and coordinate legal and technical efforts of the members.
The Association is governed by a 11 member Board of Directors comprised of chief executive officers of member companies. The ITA staff maintains liaison with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission and other state and federal government agencies, tracks and reports the progress of industry-related legislation during legislative sessions and provides an ongoing program of information and member services. These services include a president's report, periodic newsletter, telephone exchange area maps, informational mailings on topics of common interest; planning and conducting an annual convention as well as meetings (including The Midwest Telecom Expo) and workshops; assisting in the activities of standing or ad hoc committees; and responding to requests for information or assistance from non-industry sources.
Indiana's telephone industry provides service to approximately 93% of the households in the state. Those households represent 3.1 million access lines, to which 95% of the service is provided by three major companies. (Access line statistics are used instead of number of customers since a customer may use several lines.) These major local exchange companies include AT&T, servicing 1,784,462 access lines or nearly 60% of the total; Verizon, servicing 900,000 lines or a 28% share; Embarq with 256,900 access lines, a 8% share of the total access lines in Indiana. While these three major companies provide telephone service to the urban areas in the state as well as many rural communities, other small companies service primarily small towns and rural regions.
The remaining 5% of the access lines (164,474 lines) are serviced by companies which break down into three categories. These groups include holdings of three system companies--TDS Telecom, CenturyTel, and Frontier Communications. A second category of these companies are the telephone cooperatives, of which there are nine in the state--wholly owned by their telephone subscribers. The remaining category is comprised of small telephone companies which are either family-owned or stock companies.
The ITA membership also includes over 125 Category II and III companies. Category II companies include those companies which are authorized to do business in Indiana and operated as a telecommunications company, engaged in any of the following principal lines of business: interexchange carrier services; local service as an adjunct to the principal business, cellular; radio common carrier; personal communications services; competitive access provider; radio paging; cable TV company; reseller of telecommunications services; enhanced telecommunications service provider; or any other telecommunications company as may be approved by the Board of Directors. Category III companies are made up of suppliers of equipment and services to the member telephone companies who work with the local exchange telephone companies to maintain economical and efficient statewide service.