Overviews of the financing of the communications utility system, requiring the cooperation of the Gas and Electric utilities, was presented to the Electric Department Board. Rick Lohrmann made a presentation on behalf of MMCTSU to the Electric Utility Board outlining the revenue and expenses for the system. A similar presentation was made to the Gas Utility Board on March 10, 1998. Then a fourth revised set of proformas was submitted by PTI on March 12, 1998. 

The MMCTSU Board sent a letter to both the Electric and Gas Utility Boards on March 18, 1998, requesting financial assistance to install the fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system, if it is determined to be financially feasible. On March 20, 1998, a motion was made by Gib Phillips, seconded by Jerry Rasmussen, that the Manning Municipal Electric Utility Board agrees, in principal, to provide financial assistance to install the fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system for Manning, if it is determined to be financially feasible.

The first public meeting was held on May 11, 1998, to explain the proposed fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system. MMCTSU implemented a “soft” sign-up campaign, at the request of the Electric and Gas departments, to determine the level of interest by local citizens. It was determined from the proformas that 58% of 1,100 phone lines (638 lines) would need to be activated for the utility to break even.

The MMCTSU Board entered into a revised contract with PTI on May 21, 1998, including a transport credit of $100,000 to be awarded to Manning over the first three years of the contract. The MMCTSU Board also voted to contact the Electric Utility Board to ask that the final engineering study be implemented. It was then reported to the Electric Utility Board that 65% of phone lines (714 lines) had been signed up for the proposed Manning system. The financing of the proposed fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system was discussed with the Electric Utility Board. The MMCTSU Board explained how the financing would work and assured the Electric Board that all due diligence would be completed with Bud Beh before the Electric Utility Board would be asked to vote on any revenue bonds. The fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system bid books were presented and explained by Bob Gaffney. The owner of the project will be the Manning Electric Utility and MMCTSU will lease the system from the Electric Utility. MMCTSU will make lease payments sufficient to repay the revenue bonds.

The MMCTSU Board voted to ask that the Electric Utility Board request Larry Butler to begin the bid process on the communications system. On February 25, 1999, a special meeting with the City Council, the Gas Board and the Electric Board to review telephone legislation and review the financing procedures for the telecommunications system. A letter was sent from the MMCTSU Board to the Electric Utility Board requesting the Electric Utility Board publish a Notice to Bidders, and to otherwise cause Larry Butler (dba Oak Hill Consulting) to actively request bids for the construction of the proposed fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system and to proceed with the process of preparation for the issuance of Revenue Bonds to partially fund said construction.

March 2, 1999, a motion was made by Gib Phillips, and seconded by Jerry Rasmussen, to let bids for the proposed fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system. Bid opening was then held on May 25, 1999. Information from the bid opening was forwarded to Bud Beh for his review and recommendation.

Larry Butler presented the information on the bids to the Electric Utility Board. Butler indicated that the future of the project is now in the hands of the Electric Utility Board. A letter from Bud Beh with preliminary bond schedules was prepared and forwarded. 

June 15, 1999, the Electric Utility Board and the Gas Utility Board each approved interdepartmental loans of $500,000 for the construction of the HFC communications system. The Electric Utility signed a contract to purchase land from Murphy Family Farms to site the new communications building near the L-9 power substation. A contract was approved between FEH Engineering of Sioux City, and the Electric Utility Board, for the design and construction of a communications building. The Iowa Utilities Board then issued an order granting MMCTSU the right to provide telephone service through an application for a certificate of convenience and necessity.

The Electric Utility Board awarded construction contracts for the communications system to Schoon Construction of Cherokee, IA ($1.5 million) and Peregrine Communications of Golden, CO ($1.19 million) on June 28, 1999. The Electric Utility Board then approved an action to institute proceedings to enter into a loan agreement and borrow money in the principal amount of $2,260,000.

July 1, 1999, a letter was sent to GTE asking for an interconnection agreement. The Electric Utility Board authorized the issuance of $2,260,000 in Electric Revenue Bonds to pay for the distribution and load management infrastructure of the new communications system. The MMCTSU Channel Selection Committee submitted its recommendations to the MMCTSU board on July 13, 1999. The Electric Revenue Bonds in the amount of $2,260,000 were issued on August 9, 1999. The MMCTSU Board approved the hiring of Jeff Carson as Telecommunications Technician. Jeff was the lead man on the installation and construction of the communications system. The first communications system pre-construction meeting was held on August 26, 1999.

Bids were opened on September 29, 1999, for the construction of the communications building. The only bid received was from McLaughlin Construction of Manning for $262,403. The Electric Utility Board accepted the bid from McLaughlin Construction in the amount of $262,403 for the construction of the communications building on October 6, 1999. McLaughlin Construction began construction on the communications building on October 18, 1999. A pre-construction meeting was held with McLaughlin, their subcontractors, Lee Gayer with FEH, and MMCTSU. On November 8, 1999, Schoon Construction began installation of the fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system.

The MMCTSU Board approved the logo design on November 9, 1999, and the tariff was adopted for telephone service. Work began on the manningia.com website. ADC products were also chosen for telecommunications system.

A new cable channel line-up and equipment purchases were authorized by the MMCTSU Board on January 18, 2000. The generator for the communications building was delivered and installed in the following days. Roan Towers completed their design testing for proposed equipment load on January 31, 2000, and the tower design was approved for MMCTSU.

MMCTSU used Longlines Communications out of Seargent Bluff, IA as its provider of voice switching and data transport services from the time the Utility began operating in 2000 until 2006 when the board elected to start getting phone switching and data transport services from Templeton Telephone Company.

MMCTSU upgraded from a DOCSIS 1.1 cable modem router to a Casa Systems DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem router in 2013. This greatly improved the internet reliability and download speeds.

September 2016, the MMCTSU Board merged with the Manning Municipal Light Plant Board and the Manning Municipal Gas Board, forming one board of directors under the name Manning Municipal Utilities. This brought a significant change in operational efficiency for all three entities.

With the increasing demand of greater download capacity for streaming services and the increasing costs of maintaining and upgrading a fiber optics-coaxial hybrid communications system, it was decided to install a FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home) infrastructure throughout the City of Manning in 2019. This project was completed in 2020 using a Calix GPON architecture over an active FTTH plant. All homes and businesses had a direct fiber optic connection back to the MMU Central Office and access to symmetrical 1Gbps services.

In 2021, MMU was the recipient of NOFA 4 and 6 grant money in the amount of $2.4 million dollars to build FTTH infrastructure to approx. 60 sq. miles in the rural area around Manning, adding 190 new locations to our service area. This work was completed in 2022-2023.

Due to increasing CATV (Cable TV) programming costs, the MMU Board elected to discontinue their CATV lineup in 2022. Streaming options were available at a much lower cost and with capabilities of the new FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home) internet services to support those options, it was decided to streamline the focus of MMU personnel into an all-IP infrastructure. This significantly saved on maintenance and yearly equipment expenses supporting a CATV plant.

Continuing the move to an all-IP infrastructure, the board elected to move all voice services over to wholesale soft switch through Voyant. This allowed MMU to offer a full VoIP solution to the businesses and it eliminated the long-distance charges to all calls in the continental United States and 22 foreign countries.

In 2023, in partnership with NIPCO, MMU completed the build of a Fiber Transport Ring to Data Centers in Sioux City and Omaha to improve the service reliability of our IP services and to give access to cheaper network capacity for MMU customers.

As of 2025, the MMU Board is working on securing funding to build approx. 25 additional sq. miles of rural area around Manning and to the town of Gray, IA. This work should be completed by the Fall of 2026.