Nancy Chapman
This article continues an earlier feature on CC Communications, one of Fallon’s longest-running business operations.
On Aug. 5, 1889, Churchill County Commissioners instructed the treasurer to pay $975 to Western Union Telegraph to purchase the wires from Virginia City to a point 25 miles east of Stillwater. That investment created Churchill County Telegraph, a county-owned communications company that remains the only one of its kind in the United States.
During the ensuing decades, this small-town community-owned telecommunications company expanded rapidly. In 1979, Churchill County Telephone and Telegraph (CCT&T) began removing open wire lines between Tedford Lane and Briggs Lane. The project continued until 1985, replacing pole-mounted wire with a faster digital microwave system between Fallon and Fernley. The last open wire in Fallon, near Grimes Point, came down in July 2007.
By 1980, subscribers had grown about nine percent, reaching nearly 5,900. In 1983, CCT&T converted from an analog to a digital computer-controlled switching system, introducing custom calling features and ending the need for local operators.
In 1984, the company opened the Telemart store at 879 S. Maine Street to sell and service telephones. Local payphone rates were set at 25 cents per call. Three years later, as Williams Avenue and Reno Highway were widened from Allen Road to the new intersection at Bottom, Casey and Coleman roads, the company laid additional cable to prepare for growth.
CCT&T was awarded a Rural Service Area (RSA) license on Dec. 8, 1988, to build and operate a cellular network serving Churchill, Pershing and Humboldt counties. The license was awarded by lottery during a national telephone conference attended by then General Manager Ted Hunnewell.
On Aug. 18, 1989, the last two-party telephone service was eliminated, completing the transition to single-line service. That year also marked the company’s 100th anniversary, with 8,575 lines in use. CCT&T installed its first solar-powered payphone at Sand Mountain.
Cellular service reached local residents in 1990, when Assistant Manager Kenneth Coverston made the first call from the firehouse training room to Hunnewell. CCT&T soon entered the “information superhighway,” offering dial-up internet service to the community.
When Banner Churchill Community Hospital was built in 1995, CCT&T installed thousands of feet of Category 5 communication wire and copper cabling, creating a modern communications hub. Hunnewell retired in 1998 after 22 years as general manager — the company’s longest-serving leader — and was succeeded by Assistant Manager Donald Mello.
In 2000, the company officially became CC Communications, reflecting its expanded services in landline, long distance, cellular, television, and internet. Mello retired after 38 years with the company, and Robert Adams became general manager. Around that time, the last coin-operated telephones were removed from Fallon businesses, including the final payphone at Middlegate.
By 2002, CC Communications was emerging as a broadband leader. Partnering with state and regional agencies, it helped install fiber optics from the Fallon central office to Carson City and Reno, completing a key section of Nevada’s fiber loop. The project ran parallel with the widening of U.S. 50A (Reno Highway) to Lyon County, with CC Communications warehousing all materials for the 19½-mile installation.
As a county-owned utility, CC Communications operates independently of taxpayer funding. By law, no county tax dollars can support the company, and no money may flow from the county to CC Communications. Instead, all operating costs — including staffing and benefits — are funded entirely by revenue from services. The company contributes back to Churchill County through payments in lieu of taxes and an annual profit transfer. They have also supported many community events through the years, including being the title sponsor of the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival the past few years. Employees participate in the Nevada Public Employee Retirement System, and the general manager reports directly to the Board of County Commissioners.
From its first telegraph wire to today’s fiber lines, CC Communications has stayed rooted where it began — right here in Churchill County, owned by the people it serves and still keeping Fallon connected after 135 years.
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