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A Continuous Commitment to our Communities | GBT 2021 Year in Recap
January 31, 2022

As we start a new year, I would like to take a moment to say THANK YOU to our many customers and update you on a few company happenings.

GBT’s Fiber Network continues to grow, with homes and businesses getting blazing fast Internet connections that only fiber can deliver! Many rural areas lack fiber because it isn’t financially viable for big Internet companies to provide service due to lack of population density. The GBT Cooperative has invested over $40 million in the last 13 years to bring 94% of our members a ROBUST Fiber Connection! 2021’s focus included the rural areas of Brownell, Bazine, and McCracken—meaning these areas, along with current fiber-connected members, will have access to Gigabit Internet connections and the best experience available in the area! The GBT Cooperative has three more exchanges–Bison, Burdett, and Garfield—planned to receive fiber connections in 2022. I am sure many of you unwrapped an Internet-connected device this holiday season that depends on a robust Internet connection to deliver the desired performance. The GBT Cooperative understands the broadband needs of our members are evolving–upgrading to 100% Fiber Optic Network throughout our area has been part of our long-term commitment and strategy that should wrap up in the next three years!

Getting expert, local IT help is easy with GBT Business Technology Solutions. GBT has increased its offering of Business IT Solutions recently because of demand from our customers. As technology evolves and society becomes more dependent on the Internet for commerce, attacks have become increasingly more common. Often hackers target small business because of the lack of security infrastructure to protect against these threats. Whether a business is large or small, when IT issues arise, productivity can come to a standstill. Our team is close, accessible, and ready to help keep your business running. Call us, and we will customize a package to meet your individual needs!

In addition to deploying more Fiber Infrastructure and ramping up our Cybersecurity offerings, GBT converted all video customers to StreamIT TV. Customers are enjoying a feature-rich platform, including FREE DVR, full HD, instant rewind & replay, with no clunky set-top boxes, that integrates well with other streaming platforms, such as Netflix and ESPN+.

“It is easy to think of us as just an Internet provider. However, our GBT Team takes a lot of pride in ensuring the communities we serve can meet their economic needs, trade their commodities, grow academically, entertain, and participate in commerce.”

As I wrap this up, I want to take a moment to recognize all the people that make our services work and keep our technology moving forward. It is easy to take for granted the work they do to keep our members connected. In a perfect world, the services we provide should largely be invisible. If you peel back the layers, you will quickly realize the thousands of miles of fiber, the complex hardware, fiscal oversight, and expertise that CONNECT YOU to the world! It is easy to think of us as just an Internet provider. However, our GBT Team takes a lot of pride in ensuring the communities we serve can meet their economic needs, trade their commodities, grow academically, entertain, and participate in commerce.

Our Cooperative has seven core values that guide the direction for what each of us strive to deliver to our membership. The one that really makes us unique is our commitment to our communities—Team GBT is actively involved in local happenings to help support them physically and economically. Part of the ongoing commitment of this value is to continue to learn from our members so we can deliver on what is important to you.

GBT, with the leadership of our Board of Trustees, our dedicated Team of Employees, and our loyal Members, will be around to deliver communication needs to the membership well into the future. From all of us at GBT, Happy New Year!

Beau Rebel / GBT General Manager

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