Company History
In the fall of 1985 Curtis H. Hunt and Herman C. Roark, Jr. established a telecommunications engineering firm in Kerrville, Texas under the assumed name of TRC Services. In early 1986 the two gentlemen formed TRC Engineering Services, Inc., incorporating in that same year. They have been providing telecommunications engineering services to a number of Incumbent Rural Telephone Cooperatives and Companies within the State of Texas and have grown from five (5) employees, in its beginnings, to nearly fifty (50) employees today.
As employees and owners of an engineering firm, Curtis and Herman were instrumental in helping their clients establish telephone service in rural and remote areas of Texas. Having over 30 years of experience, in this endeavor, they decided to begin their own telephone company. They found an area along the Texas Mexico border, near Laredo, that was un-served. This territory, comprised of 850 square miles of south Texas brush country, is situated in Zapata County. The area is extremely rural; being comprised of large ranches. It is steeped in early Texas history and is rich in oil and natural gas production.
US Highway 83 traverses Zapata County, paralleling the Rio Grande River in a north to south direction. Border to Border Communications, Inc. services the less populated areas of the County, which for the most part, comprises the area from two miles east of US Highway 83 and from the Zapata/Webb County line south to the Zapata/Star county line. Incorporated on September 11, 1991, Border to Border Communications, Inc. was formed to provide the ranching and rural residents of Zapata County with access to a basic necessity enjoyed by most people in this ever changing world of telecommunications technology.
On August 1, 1991, the Public Utility Commission of Texas awarded a Certificate of Convenience and Necessity to Border to Border Communications, Inc. With the issuance of the certificate, the company now had the authority to provide telecommunication services’ in the newly created service area. This new service area was named the Falcon exchange. Next Border to Border Communications, Inc. applied for a Rural Utilities Service (RUS) low interest loan to establish service in its newly formed exchange. The loan was secured on July 22, 1993 and construction began.
The RUS loan provided funds for the purchase of two buildings intended to house telecommunications equipment. One of the buildings initially served as the Falcon exchange central switching office, with the other the Ovejas building, serving as a remote equipment building. The two equipment sites were connected via microwave radio, having radio antennas installed on two 300 ft. towers located at each equipment site. The loan also provided funds for direct buried fiber optic facilities to be used as toll facilities connecting the Falcon exchange to the world through Harlingen, Texas. In addition, loan funds were provided for the installation of buried, subscriber cable facilities in the vicinity of the Falcon central switching office.
The company placed its first customer in service on April 4, 1994. Since that momentous day and with PUC approval, the service area was enlarged in Zapata County and service was extended into Webb County.
During 2002 the company applied for and was awarded a $400,000 USDA Rural Development Grant, administered by the Rural Utilities Service, to make internet service available to its customers. Customers could now receive voice and internet service over a single radio system.
In November of 2003 Border to Border Communications, Inc. received another RUS loan to install Fiber to The Home (FTTH) to the majority of its customers and buried fiber cable linking all equipment locations within the system. Approximately 300 miles of buried telecommunications cable was installed. The loan provided funds for the construction of a new equipment location at Bustamante. The central office switching capabilities were moved from the Falcon office to this location. With this technology in place, the company is providing its customers with telecommunications services equal to or surpassing that received by urban dwellers. The second RUS loan also included provisions to establish a remote equipment and radio tower site in the Delores subdivision. By establishing this site, enhanced services could be provided to customers in this northern portion of the Falcon Exchange.
Border to Border Communications, Inc. also provides broadband internet service to residents and businesses throughout the county. Utilizing a 700 MHz radio, customers can have access to the world wide information highway by means of a broadband connection in a home or business.
In a more recent development, the company has installed a wind and solar electric generation plant at its Bustamante switching site. This so called “Green Technology” is generating a portion of the sites electric usage, thus reducing commercial power requirements. The company is exploring the use of this green technology and its future enhanced capabilities, as they are developed, to lessen dependency on fossil fuels for the electric power generation.
The provision of modern telecommunications service to the deserving citizens of rural Zapata County is made possible through the re-investment of company general operating funds and support received from federal and state Universal Service funding. Universal Service Support mechanisms, established by law, are, in part, the life blood of rural America. Without this funding, the residents of rural Zapata County would not have access to dependable telecommunication services essential for their physical, financial and informational well-being.