A Local Telco for Our Community
by Alan Harrington

A few months ago, the Co-op was introduced to the concept of the "community telco".

We were approached by the Sunshine Coast Community Enterprise (SCCE), a telecommunications provider that invests 100% of its profits back into local communities. The Community Enterprise model is based on the very successful Bendigo community banking initiative.

Sunshine Coast Community Enterprise is a local provider of telecommunications products and solutions, servicing both residential and business markets. All the services are provided locally by people who live and work in the area.

When you become a customer, you keep the capital working in this region, thereby creating employment, helping the local economy prosper and generating profits to support local charities and community groups. In other words, your phone bill becomes a community asset.

Here's how it works. If you want to switch from your telecommunications provider, take your most recent phone bill to the Hinterland Business Centre which is the Maleny agent for the SCCE. The staff will explain the rates and pricing to you and then it's up to you to decide whether it is in your interests to change. Should you decide to change, you can then nominate a community group or charity to which you want the profits channelled. It's similar to the very successful IGA Community Chest concept.

Profits from the Sunshine Coast Community Enterprise are shared as follows:
a) 100% of all profits are retained for distribution to community groups;
b) 50% of this share is made available for distribution to the greater Sunshine Coast region for the benefit of all residents of that region; and
c) the remaining 50% share of profits goes to the Community Enterprise Committee for distribution to local Maleny community groups as nominated by the people who sign up.

Ideally, if you want your local community group to maximise the return to it, you get everyone in that group to sign up and nominate that group as the recipient of the profits.

We at Maple Street Co-op were so impressed with the benefits, both in terms of the competitive rates and the flow-on benefits to the community, that we have switched the Co-op's and The UpFront Club's telephone/fax systems to the Sunshine Coast Community Enterprise.

On the two occasions when we required service (one relating to the relocation of the phone system as a result of the Club renovations), we found the response to be both prompt and friendly. The Co-op and The UpFront Club have nominated the MCU Charitable Trust as the recipient of the profits.

For more information, phone the Hinterland Business Centre on 5494 9911 or drop in to the office at 38A Coral Street, Maleny. Check out the SCCE website at http://www.ourtelco.com.au.

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", August/September 2006; published by
The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.co-op@serv.net.au, website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]