Rural Texas Students Receive High-Speed Internet Services

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Conterra Telecom Services (Conterra), a national broadband services company specializing in underserved rural areas, has announced the commencement of initial high-speed wide area network and Internet Access services to the Wireless Internet Consortium, lead by Texas Region 10 Educational Service Center (ESC) for 38 member school districts. When completed, the Ethernet-based network will connect all member districts to Region 10's administration building located in Richardson, TX. A seven year contract was awarded to Conterra through the federal E-Rate program which subsidizes a large portion of the consortium member's costs of utilizing the new services.

Conterra's managed broadband networks support the convergence of integrated data, video and voice services on single circuits allowing the consolidation of multiple service providers to a single source of performance accountability. Conterra monitors, manages and supports its networks on a 24x7x365 basis and guarantees network performance and reliability. In addition to Internet access, Conterra's network services is used to support Region 10's videoconferencing network which provides student credit courses, virtual field trips, graduate degrees and certifications for district staff members along with professional development support.

"High-speed broadband and Internet service has not been competitively available to many school districts throughout Region 10's service area, says Gary Bowers, Assistant Director Telecommunications," When the network is fully operational, each school district will receive 20 Mbps of Internet access through Conterra's carrier class broadband wireless network. Conterra exceeded all our requirements including a design that will support increased bandwidth in future years."

The Region 10 Wide Area Network services contract is one of three major E-Rate subsidized telecommunications projects recently deployed by Conterra in rural Texas. A similar Conterra high-speed broadband network to service Region 14 ESC became operational in 2008 and a new broadband network for Region 15 ESC has recently commenced service. "Through our state-of-the-art broadband networks, Conterra will deliver high-quality, high-speed Ethernet broadband and Internet services to 125 Texas school districts at performance levels comparable to those enjoyed by schools in the state's largest metropolitan areas," commented Conterra's President and Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Francis. "And, thanks to the federal E-rate program, which subsidizes a large portion of essential telecommunication services for underserved school districts, students and teachers in this part of rural Texas will not have to wait on funding from the government's new Stimulus Package to take advantage of new video-based educational opportunities that are available right now through the Internet," added Mr. Francis.

About Conterra Telecom Services

Conterra Telecom Services ("Conterra"), headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is a national provider of facilities-based broadband services for K-20, healthcare and government entities; wireless carriers and select enterprises that require bandwidth intensive, carrier-grade data, video and voice transport services primarily in underserved rural America markets. Conterra and its subsidiaries currently provide these services to over 1,000 K-12 schools, colleges, government and commercial sites throughout the United States, affording broadband services to over one million students, teachers, administrators and others.

Privately owned, Conterra was established by the founders and members of management of Vanguard Cellular Systems, Inc., which became one of the first and largest independent cellular companies in the United States. Started in 1982, Vanguard designed, built and operated its own point-to-point microwave transport systems to support wireless voice and data traffic within its mostly rural cellular networks throughout the country which are now part of AT&T Mobility. For more information about Conterra, visit www.conterra.com or call: 800-634-1374.