Sioux Center and Hospers, Iowa — Final federal approval has been received, and a company that started out many years ago as a northwest-Iowa-based independent telephone company has completed the final sale of a company with very similar beginnings.
This past April, Premier Communications and HTC Communications announced that Premier would be buying HTC. At that time, they hoped that the Federal Communications Commission would give their approval in time for a July 1st transfer date. Premier CEO Doug Boone says it didn’t quite happen by that time, but it has now happened.
Boone says that “right out of the gate” HTC customers will notice “no changes.”
He says that Premier will continue to provide voice, video, and data services as HTC has done in the past. He says HTC customers won’t even have to call new numbers to get a hold of billing or tech support.
HTC employees have become Premier employees as of this week. He says eventually bills will say “Premier Communications” instead of HTC. But Boone says that the HTC — or Hospers Telephone Company — name will not go away completely.
Boone says they plan on the continual upgrading of their facilities and adding more and more fiber to their network, improving speeds and performance.
He says HTC offers service in Hospers, Sheldon, Ashton, Sibley, and Ocheyedan. Boone says that since their 2016 acquisition of Consolidated Communications’ area in northwest Iowa, they have been the facilities-based provider for telephone service in Sibley. He says a number of years ago they served Ashton and Ocheyedan as well, but sold that to HTC, so now they are coming full circle. He says Premier looks forward to working with customers in HTC’s area, and that if people have partnership ideas, they’re open to hearing what they have to say.
