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Fast, affordable Internet access for all.
Paul Bunyan Communications Payout To Members Is Not A Tall Tale
By
on
The reasons why municipalities and cooperatives build community-owned broadband networks are numerous, often fueled by years of frustration with the spotty, expensive service offered by the big monopoly incumbents.
In northern Minnesota earlier this month, we came across yet another example of why an increasing number of localities are finding publicly-owned, locally-controlled telecommunication infrastructure so appealing: the “profits” don’t get funneled into the pockets of distant shareholders but are instead reinvested back into the local economy.
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In the case of Paul Bunyan Communications, the “profits” are shared with its members.
Earlier this month, the Bemidji-based telephone cooperative – which serves 30,000 members spread across its 6,000-square-mile service area – announced it is returning over $3 million to its members this year.
Capital Credit Retirements
As the cooperative explained in a recent press release:
“Paul Bunyan Communications is a not-for-profit company that strives to provide the highest quality service at the most affordable rates. As a cooperative, membership in Paul Bunyan Communications includes the opportunity to share in the financial success of the company.”
“When profits are earned, they are allocated to the members based on their proportional share of the allocable revenues. These allocations may then be returned to the individual members through capital credit retirements.”
For members with an allocation of $100 or less, the cooperative is offering a credit on their August bill. For members with an allocation of $100 or more, the cooperative is sending those members checks for their proportional share.
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This most recent payout isn’t Paul Bunyan Communications first, or largest. In 2022, members were returned $6.3 million and in 2018 it was $2.2 million.
“For over 70 years, we have been offering the latest technology at cost. Joining Paul Bunyan Communications is free – there are no membership fees or annual dues. Simply subscribe to a local phone line or GigaZone Broadband Internet service and you become a member,” Dave Schultz, Paul Bunyan Communications Chief Financial Officer, explained in a press statement.
Brian Bissonette, Paul Bunyan Communications Marketing Supervisor, added:
“Our cooperative has thrived by prioritizing our region and members. We focus solely on our local communities, not on customers in places like Sioux Falls, Fargo, or Minneapolis. Our investments stay here, enhancing our network, services, and communities in northern Minnesota.”
Established in 1950, the cooperative first began offering high-speed Internet service nearly 25 years ago through an initiative known as the Connect Bemidji project. Getting into the Internet business, along with its television and phone service offering, drew more Minnesotans in its service area to become members.
Over the intervening years, the cooperative gradually built out an all-fiber network that today provides broadband service under the GigaZone brand, where residential subscribers can get a base symmetrical 250 Megabits per second (Mbps) package for just $60/month; symmetrical gig service for $80/month; up to as high as 10 gig service for those who have a Paul Bunyan-sized need for speed.
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Now laying claim to being “one of the largest all-fiber optic Gigabit networks in the United States,” since 2016 the cooperative has hosted the annual GigaZone Gaming Championship, a stadium style eSporting event that draws thousands of gamers to the region every year.
Putting An Ax to Prices, Planting Seeds of Competition
The payout Paul Bunyan Communications is offering is just the latest example of something ILSR has documented in communities across the nation who have built and operate community broadband networks.
In 2022, FairlawnGig – Fairlawn, Ohio’s municipal broadband network – bumped up speeds and slashed prices for its subscribers. Subscribers there who had been getting Fairlawn’s basic service tier of symmetrical 300 Mbps service were being automatically upgraded to symmetrical gig speed service for the same price of $55/month.
FairlawnGig also announced that subscribers who had previously been getting gig speed service would see their bills drop down to $55/month instead of the $75/month they had been paying. Meanwhile, subscribers who were getting 2.5 Gigabits per second (Gbps) for $150/month were upgraded to a symmetrical 5 Gbps tier for $100/month.
In Western Massachusetts – thanks to the success of the Westfield Gas & Electric municipal broadband subsidiary Whip City Fiber – in April of this year the Westfield City Council voted to use the extra revenue coming from Whip City Fiber to help finance a new athletic track and field for the community.
Header image of Paul Bunyan statue in Bemidji, MN courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Inline image of Paul Bunyan crew deploying fiber into St Louis County, MN courtesy of Paul Bunyan Communications Facebook page
Inline image of GigaZone Gaming Championships courtesy of Paul Bunyan Communications Facebook page
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