7 Rural Telecoms That Pay Big Dividends

With all the excitement about smart phones these days, I bet that telephone companies that mostly provide old-fashioned landline services aren’t on your radar screen. They’re certainly not sexy-unless, like me, you find collecting steady 5% to 9% dividend yields an exciting idea. I’m referring to phone companies that provide local and long distance landline telephone services mostly to rural areas with low population densities. Most also offer dial-up and broadband Internet services and some also offer TV and wireless phone services. Major phone companies like AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) view the traditional landline business with disdain because many customers are switching entirely to wireless phones. In fact, on average, the number of landline connections is shrinking by around 10% annually. As a result, many of the big carriers have sold their landline businesses, especially in rural areas, to smaller operators. Nevertheless, the outlook for these rural carriers is... Read more