BRIMLEY - Hiawatha Communications, Inc., the parent company of Chippewa County Telephone Company, Hiawatha Telephone Company, Ontonagon County Telephone Company and Midway Telephone Company, recently had a request to expand local calling within its service areas to include the entire Upper Peninsula approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission on Sept. 20. The original filing was denied by the MPSC on June 30.
The expansion, which took effect Oct. 1, requires a local rate adjustment of $5.69 per month for residential customers and $7.42 per month for business customers. Customers will receive 2,000 minutes-of-use per line per month for calls made to all exchanges in their expanded local calling areas. The 2,000-minute limit will only apply to calls made to the new expanded local calling, so calls made within the current local calling area will remain unlimited. Minutes over the 2,000 limit will be billed at five cents per minute.
According to HCI Vice President and Chief Operations Officer James Brogan, III, the main reasons HCI filed the request for expansion were to save customers money on their monthly phone bills, gain seven-digit dialing throughout the entire U.P., and to make it easier and more affordable to be a part of and enjoy one big community of interest in the U.P.
"The days of dialing 1-906 are over," he said. "We're really excited about this and hope everyone else is, too. Not only will it be more convenient for our customers, but it will also save them a lot of money on their monthly bills.
Brogan said that letters of support from the entire U.P. delegation of congress, various U.P. schools, and one from BMIC Chairman Jeffrey Parker, all helped the MSPC agree to their request to expand local calling. In addition to the money it will save residential customers each month, Brogan said that businesses of all sizes will also benefit.
Customers with phones or phone systems that have speed dial features with pre-programmed numbers to the 906 area code will have to reprogram those numbers to get them to work. Those who subscribe to a speed dial feature can find instructions for programming the feature in their local telephone directory, or may also contact the customer service representative at their local telephone company.
CCTC customers can look for notification included in their forthcoming October bill for more information on the issue. To learn more about the expanded local calling contact Chippewa County Telephone Company at 906-248-3211.
