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RT Communications was created through the vision of Range Telephone Cooperative's Board of Trustees to provide the latest in telecommunications services to the residents of Wyoming. The opportunity to begin their quest came with the announcement of US WEST's intention to sell 26 of its Wyoming exchanges in February 1993. Range Telephone was successful in its bid for 16 of the 26 Wyoming exchanges in June 1993, and in July, filings to the Federal Communications Commission were made naming the newly created Wyoming subsidiary, RT Communications, Inc. The Wyoming Public Service Commission issued a 142-page document approving the sale in February 1994. In August of that same year, the Federal Communications Commission granted approval of the acquisition. Shortly thereafter, bids for state-of-the-art digital switching equipment to modernize the purchased exchanges were requested from industry vendors. Management and staff personnel started arriving in late September while customer service representatives began training. Many of the technicians were hired from US WEST and transitioned to RT in late October. Closing activities were conducted in the US WEST state headquarters in Cheyenne on October 25, 1994. Thus initially relegated to serve 14,409 customers on antiquated facilities, but strongly supported by 38 enthusiastic new employees, RT Communications officially began operations on October 26, 1994.