Our History
Dickey Rural Telephone Cooperative was formed in 1950 and is distinguished as being the first telephone cooperative formed in North Dakota, the first North Dakota telephone company to receive a REA loan, and one of the first in the state to complete its Fiber-to-the-Home project. Dickey Rural Telephone Cooperative serves 28 exchanges in seven North Dakota counties and two South Dakota counties. Its Board of Directors, elected to serve a three-year term and represent the different exchanges, governs DRTC. From its inception, the Cooperative has grown to serve approximately 8000 members across 5,000 square miles with state-of-the-art telecommunications services and has over 60 employees.
DRN, the marketing name for the Cooperative, currently provides up to 10 gig Internet service along with local and long-distance telephone service, HD television service plus advanced business telecommunications services.
ReadiTech, a subsidiary of DRN, is a managed IT service company with headquarters in Ellendale, North Dakota. It also has locations in Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck, Lisbon, Oakes and Aberdeen, SD. ReadiTech specializes in being a managed IT solutions provider by offering a suite of services that can boost, secure, and streamline business operations- IT support and management; cloud services; computer hardware; computer software; security systems and phone systems plus project management.
In 2020, ReadiTech expanded DRN’s fiber-optic network to provide fast, reliable Internet to the communities of Casselton, Mapleton and Horace in North Dakota. ReadiTech Fiber has office locations in Casselton and Horace, ND.
DRN is community orientated and continues to look for ways to serve the cooperative and its members with exceptional products and services. DRN continues to push to create future-proof services plus add diversification for potential sources of revenue.