About Your Cooperative > History

Alabama’s largest member-owned, operating telephone cooperative, FTC marks its beginning with its original incorporation in February 1952. Up to that time, none of Alabama’s large, investor-owned telephone companies would serve the state’s rural areas, claiming that the costs to serve these sparsely populated areas were just too high, and the returns too low. Responding to the need for reliable communications with their neighbors and the world, a handful of area residents, some of whom had played key roles in establishing Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative, joined together to begin organizing and building Farmers Telephone Cooperative.

For those seven community-minded leaders — Fred Wellborn, John B. Ryan, Lee Hancock, Boyd Jones, O.M. Johnson, L.D. Dalton, and Grady Wade — who would become the charter members of the Farmers Board of Trustees, the early going proved challenging indeed. They set out across the Sand Mountain region looking to sign up prospective cooperative members for the $45 initial membership fee — $5 down and $40 due when the cooperative was formed. Then, or now, $45 was nothing to sneeze at — in fact, $45 is more like $200 in today’s money. They also started the process of acquiring the switching and network equipment necessary to bring telephone service to rural DeKalb and Jackson counties for the first time. Throughout, these Alabama pioneers maintained a steady resolve.

Two years later, in 1954, their determination and hard work paid off, with the purchase of three privately held exchanges — in reality, they were more like tiny farmer-line switchboards — and 234 telephones. About the same time, the FTC Board successfully completed negotiations with the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) in Washington, D.C. for a low-interest federal loan from the newly created REA telephone program. With federal funds, FTC could make the goal of telephone service a reality for some 750 residents across five exchanges. The following year, the co-op secured REA funding to construct 100 miles of telephone lines and to install the necessary switching equipment to connect approximately 1,000 members in the two-county area. By 1960, FTC had grown to more than 2,000 members.

From those early days of initial hook-up, FTC now tells a story of steady growth and advancement. From the very beginning, the Board of Trustees chose Rainsville as the cooperative’s headquarters — and in 2002, FTC opened its new, expanded headquarters building and business office. During the 1960s and ‘70s, the co-op installed underground telephone cable, cut over new switches, and constructed additional central offices. In the early 1980s, FTC became the first telephone company in the state to deploy digital switching technology. Later, the cooperative met its goal of providing all members with one-party service, upgrading the last exchange in 1985, with FTC serving more than 15,000 members. All the while, the cooperative leadership steadfastly adhered to its mission of ensuring that residents and businesses in this diverse rural area would have access to the kinds of services readily available in more urban markets.

To build on its community partnerships, FTC opened full-service local offices in Geraldine and Higdon. In 1991, the cooperative introduced members to the convenience of cellular calling; and ever since, Farmers Wireless has offered customers in northeast Alabama the marvels of wireless just as fast as technology makes them possible. The decade of the 1990s saw FTC keep pace with fast-paced network deployment of optical fiber. In 1996, FTC Internet Services made toll-free, local access to the Internet available to cooperative members; and, in 1999, the co-op launched FTC Long Distance to give members a local long-distance choice. Most recently, FTC rolled out high-speed DSL (digital subscriber line) service in 2002 to ensure its subscribers would have access to the benefits of high-speed broadband services. As driven to meet member needs as the day the cooperative began operations, the FTC Board and staff continue to connect subscribers to each other … to the world … to the Internet Age.

In February 2005, Farmers Telephone Cooperative changed it's name to Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, to better represent it's standing as not only a reliable telephone cooperative, but also a reliable "telecommunications" cooperative for all of your telecommunication needs.

Today Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative serves close to 20,000 subscribers in seven exchanges across DeKalb and Jackson counties. And as was the case in 1952, large telecom companies in Alabama and across rural America are making cost-based decisions to close local and regional offices, isolating rural and small-town customers out on the fringe of the national network. Your cooperative, however, has sought to strengthen — not weaken — its local connections. And far from the simple dial tone that those first members treasured a half-century ago, FTC now offers an impressive array of advanced telecom services that once might have been assumed simply not to be available to rural citizens.

Yes, services and technologies certainly have changed, but Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative has never wavered from providing quality service to all who depend on it. FTC, your community based telecom provider, is proud to be a member-owned cooperative. Our mission is simple — to offer members the very highest quality, most advanced telecom services and benefits available, in an affordable and responsive manner. With our state-of-the-art network and the latest technological applications, FTC offers members and patrons — our friends and neighbors — all telecom makes possible. Whether it’s the convenience of wireless, long-distance service with a local touch, toll-free access to the Internet, the gee-whiz wonder of high-speed broadband — and, don’t forget plain old, reliable telephone service — FTC keeps you connected … to your neighbor and to the world.