Rhonda Armstrong

YEAR FOUNDED: 1911

NUMBER OF LINES: 9900

EMPLOYEES: 169

OWNED BY: The Sebastian family since 1946

IMPORTANT EVENTS: Acquired Foresthill Telephone three years ago. Changed name to Sebastian this year to position the company as more than just a traditional telco. The company also has a construction company that specializes in low-voltage installations.

ABOUT THE COMMUNITY: “Kerman is becoming a bedroom community of Fresno. Our customers expect the same services that the big city has. We're also still very agricultural-oriented. We have a lot of migrant workers who come in seasonally.”

EMPLOYEE SINCE: 1972. What started out as a summer job has become a three-and-a-half decade career. “I started in operator services, then transitioned into billing, data processing and customer service, where I was the manager.” Worked in accounting and was regulatory manager. Became VP of operations five years ago.

OTHER CREDENTIALS: Currently on the board of directors of Opastco and also has served on various California Telephone Association committees.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE SERVING THE COMMUNITY: Kerman is ripe for competition. There is a strong Comcast presence and cellular coverage is extremely good because of the flat surrounding terrain (although Foresthill is mountainous and has poor cellular service coverage).

COMMUNITY SERVICE: “We're totally involved in the community. We have employees on every service club.” Longtime owner Bill Sebastian made a significant donation to build a new library, where the company sponsors a literacy program.

BROADBAND AVAILABILITY: 100%

BROADBAND TECHNOLOGY USED: DSL

MAX. DATA RATE OFFERED: 10 Mb/s

BROADBAND TAKE RATE: 38%

BROADBAND AVAILABLE SINCE: Earlier in this decade

CURRENT TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVES: Preparing to launch IPTV over DSL. Also deploying fiber to the home technology. Future plans include multiservice convergence.

INTERESTING HISTORICAL FACT: Bill Sebastian invented a vehicle-to-phone car radio service in 1960 — two decades before the widespread deployment of cellular networks.

USF FUNDING: High-cost funding received in both Kerman and Foresthill. About half of all Sebastian subscribers qualify for the Lifeline program.

RUS LOAN: Funded the Foresthill acquisition

COMMUNITIES SERVED:

Kerman, Calif., and Foresthill, Calif.

POPULATION DENSITY

• 82 customers per square mile in Kerman
• 33 customers per square mile in Foresthill