Business View Magazine | February 2021

86 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2021 for an average of two to three hours.” Land O’Lakes formed the coalition, which has now installed free public Wi-Fi in more than 2,800 locations across 49 states. But those are just short-term solutions for a much larger problem. An estimated 19 million Americans lack access to fixed broadband service, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Addressing that kind of large, critical infrastructure need is the type of challenge the Power & Communication Contractors Association was created to address. The organization was created in 1945 to work with the Rural Electrification Administration to bring power to rural America. Or, as Wagner puts it, to the homes and businesses that power companies deemed too expensive to electrify. “A lot of the companies who are our members now and who have been our members throughout the years started out as farmers,” Wagner explains. “And they were so enthusiastic about bringing electricity to their communities that they used some of the equipment that they had on the farms to start power line construction companies and later telephone and telecommunications construction companies.” Today, Power & Communication Contractors Association members consist of contractors and associates. Contractor members are the firms that install power and communications infrastructure. There are about 100 across the U.S. They range from mom-and-pop operations to publicly traded companies such as Dycom, Mas AT A GLANCE POWER & COMMUNICATION CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION WHAT: National trade association for contractors in the power and communication construction industry WHERE: Churchton, Maryland WEBSITE: www.pccaweb.org