The city of Traer is the latest in Iowa to develop its owntelephone company. The Tama County community has signed an agreement withPioneer Holdings of South Dakota to develop its own “communicationsnetwork.”Pioneer spokesperson Graham Gillette says the new system will let Traerresidents decide who provides their phone service.Gillette says residents in some 70 Iowa communities have passed referendumsallowing their governments to build their own telephone systems. Over 40communities have followed through and built the systems.He says there is a potential drawback for residents in a city-owned system. The city-owned telephone system is built with taxpayer dollars and that iswhy some residents oppose them. Gillette says building a system can cost acity anywhere from two-million dollars to multi-millions depending on avariety of factors. Gillette says the Traer system should be up and runningby the first part of next year.
