Focus Broadband (stylized as FOCUS Broadband), formerly Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation (ATMC), is a member-owned, non-profit cooperative that provides telecommunications services in southeastern North Carolina. It is the largest member-owned cooperative in North Carolina and one of the largest in the United States.

History

ATMC was founded in 1955 by citizens of Brunswick County who were without telephone service[1] and was the tenth such cooperative organized in North Carolina.[2] Using a $381,000 loan from the Rural Electrification Administration, many rural sections of the county received modern phone service for the first time.[3] It added cable television service in the 1980s, becoming the first co-op in the state to provide TV to its members,[4] and Internet in the 1990s.[5] After receiving an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant, it expanded into parts of Columbus County in 2011;[1] in 2019, the company obtained a new $25 million grant to lay fiber-optic cables to connect rural areas of that County.[5]

In December 2021, ATMC announced it would change its name to Focus Broadband, reflecting a new emphasis on broadband as its primary service offering.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Calix Case Study" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2012. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
  2. ↑ Holmes, E.P. (September 23, 1957). "Phone Co-Op at Clinton Has Own Office Building". The News and Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. p. 14. Retrieved December 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Brunswick's Phones Are Nearer". The News and Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. January 8, 1957. p. 10. Retrieved December 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Plan For Cable TV In Rural Areas Dies". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. Associated Press. January 16, 1984. p. 5D. Retrieved December 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. 1 2 Darrough, Mark (December 20, 2019). "Communications cooperative looks for $25 million to bring fiber-optic to Pender's rural 'hinterlands'". Port City Daily. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  6. ↑ Cano, Johanna (December 6, 2021). "ATMC to change name to reflect shift to broadband". Wilmington Biz. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
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