WCTEL technology update for Savannah Lakes Village (July 30, 2015).

2. Shannon Sears
Director of Commercial Operations

3. Agenda
Welcome and Introductions
Shannon Sears, Director of Commercial Operations
Common vision and connection between WCTEL and SLV
Wes McAllister, WCTEL Board Member, North McCormick Representative
FTTH (Fiber-to-the-home) recap & investment. The internet of things.
Jeff Wilson, CEO/General Manager
Security: Home Automation/PERS
Kristen Turner, Security/Home Automation Consultant
Digital Entertainment network upgrade
Tom Nickles, Converged Network Manager
Digital Entertainment industry programming rate increase
Chuck Nash, Business Solutions Manager
Lance Tade, CFO
Future – How SLV and WCTEL are working together to build a nature and
technology based community
Kirk Smith, SLV COO/General Manager

4. Wes McAllister
WCTEL Board Member
North McCormick Representative

5. Jeff Wilson
Chief Executive Officer/General Manager

6. About WCTEL
• Established in 1952
• John McAllister, one of the
founding members, was
President from 1952-2006
• Serving Western SC
• 99% Fiber to the Home Network
• 862 Square Miles Service Area
• Over 1600 miles of fiber in the
ground

7. About WCTEL

8. Options
A Digital Subscriber Line or
DSL connection, uses the
existing copper wire to deliver
high speed internet access.
Does not depend on distance so
provides guaranteed speeds. Cable is
typically shared amongst your
neighbors, making it a slightly less
secure option.
Conductor is glass so doesn’t
generate electricity; making it
immune to all sorts of
interference.

9. West Carolina’s Plan
• Bandwidth
• Locks
• Lights
• Sensors
• Cameras
• Monitoring
• Managed Services
• Video
• Phone
• And more…

10. Greenville
Columbia
Myrtle
Beach
Broadband Availability
$80M FTTH Project
Completed in 2011
$60M Funded by
Rural Utility Service

11. 1,025 Customers
135 Fiber Route Miles
$5.3M Plant Investment $700K Electronics Investment
Construction Years: 2009-2010$6M Project for SLV FTTH
SLV Numbers

12. Marketing – New Positioning

13. WCTEL
Up to
1 Gbps
Internet
speeds!
WCTEL introduced
Gigabit Internet June
2015

14. Gigabit Site
http://www.wctel.com/Gigabit/

15. Kristen Turner
Security/Home Automation Consultant

16. West Carolina Security/Home Automation
• Pricing:
• $99 Package Price
• $24.99 Monthly Monitoring
• Includes
• Touch Screen Panel with Siren
• 3 Door or Window Sensors
• 1 Infrared Motion Detector
• 1 Key Fob
• Window Stickers
• Yard Sign

17. West Carolina Security/Home Automation
Play Video

18. West Carolina Security/Home Automation

19. West Carolina Security/Personal Emergency Response System
Personal
Emergency
Response
System
Pricing:
$41.95 One Time Activation Fee
$21.95 Monthly Monitoring

20. West Carolina Security/Personal Emergency Response System
Play Video

21. West Carolina Security

22. Tom Nickles
Converged Network Manager

23. Digital Entertainment Network Upgrade
• Upgrading Software and Hardware on TV Platform
• Current Software and Hardware will no longer be supported at the end of this year.
• Partnering with Two Other SC Telcos
• Share cost
• Share resources

24. Digital Entertainment Network Upgrade
• New Platform Features
• VOD
• Reliability
• Correct Channel Lineup
• Easily switch from SD to HD
• Recordings are retained on new platform
• New Caller ID Screen
• Adult Locking PIN
VOD
SD to HD
Adult Locking

25. Fiber Optic Network Update
• New fiber optic equipment in offices
• New indoor ONTs – Gigacenter
• Symmetrical Gigabit speeds on wired
connections
• Recorded speeds up to 950 Mbps
• State of the Art Wireless
• 802.11AC and 802.11N Radios
• Recorded speeds of 600+ Mbps symmetrical on
5 GHz
• Equipment installation almost complete

26. CHUCK NASH
Business Solutions Manager
LANCE TADE
Chief Financial Officer

27. Digital Entertainment
Two major causes for programming rate increases
within the cable TV industry:
1. Retransmission Consent Agreements
2. Tying and Bundling of Networks

28. Digital Entertainment
WHAT IS RETRANSMISSION CONSENT?
• The U.S. Congress has authorized broadcast stations to grant or
deny permission for a cable television operator to "retransmit"
the signal to its customers.
• In order to acquire consent the owner of the television station
will demand some form of compensation from the cable
operator, which is typically re-negotiated every three years.

29. Digital Entertainment
WHAT IF WEST CAROLINA REFUSES TO ACCEPT THE
HIGHER RATE?
• Cable operators who refuse to accept the higher charge may
face retaliation from the broadcaster.
• Federal rules and regulations hinder small cable operators
serving small and rural markets to offer broadcast signals
from neighboring television markets.

30. Digital Entertainment
WHAT IS TYING AND BUNDLING?
• According to the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), the typical American consumer is only interested in
watching 17 cable channels.
• For a cable operator to provide any one of those channels,
the operator (WCTEL) is required to carry and distribute
several additional channels.

31. Digital Entertainment
The Majority of the Top 50 Cable Channels are
Owned by Just Seven Companies:
•Disney-ESPN-ABC
•Time Warner
•Viacom
•Liberty Media
•Scripps
•NBC Universal (GE)
•Comcast

32. Digital Entertainment

33. Digital Entertainment

34. Digital Entertainment

35. Digital Entertainment
BOTTOM LINE:
Tying and Bundling is the process by which Conglomerated Media
gets us to pay for all those channels we don’t want.
END RESULT:
WCTEL’s 2015 programming costs increased by 20.4%

37. Digital Entertainment

38. Digital Entertainment

39. Digital Entertainment

40. Digital Entertainment

41. Digital Entertainment

42. High Speed Fiber Pricing

43. Digital Entertainment
Differentiators
• Customer = Member-owner
• Patronage Credits
• Local Presence
• Quality Network
• Quality Customer Service
• Honest Pricing
• Choose Local Save Local Discounts

44. Kirk Smith
SLV Chief Operating Officer/General Manager