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Note 15 - Commitments and Contingencies
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Notes to Financial Statements  
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]
1
5
. Commitments and contingencies:
 
(a)
           The Company has several non-cancelable lease and purchase obligations primarily for general office facilities, service contracts for mobile telephone services and equipment that expire over the next
ten
years. Future minimum payments under these agreements are as follows:
 
Contractual Obligations for the year ending December 31,
  
Contractual Lease Obligations
    
Purchase Obligations
   
Total Obligations
  
                         
201
7
   $
1,113,000
     $
18,051,000
     $
19,164,000
  
201
8
    
1,059,000
      
19,471,000
      
20,530,000
  
201
9
    
1,022,000
      
83,000
      
1,105,000
  
20
20
    
964,000
      
18,000
      
982,000
  
202
1
    
303,000
      
8,000
      
311,000
  
Thereafter
    
1,138,000
      
43,000
      
1,181,000
  
    $
5,599,000
     $
37,674,000
     $
43,273,000
  
 
Rental expense under operating lease agreements
was
$1.2
 million,
$1.0
 million and
$0.9
 million for the years ended
December
 
31,
2016,
2015
and
2014,
respectively.
 
(b)
           On
February
9,
2015
Ting Fiber, Inc.(“TING”) entered into a lease and network operation agreement with the City of Westminster, Maryland (the ”City”) relating to the deployment of a new fiber network throughout the Westminster area (“WFN”).
 
Under the agreement, the City will finance, construct, and maintain the WFN which will be leased to TING for a period of
ten
years. The network will be constructed in phases, the scope and timing of which shall be determined by the City, in cooperation with TING.
 
Under the terms of the agreement, TING
may
be required to advance funds to the City in the event of a quarterly shortfall between the City
’s revenue from leasing the network to TING and the City’s debt service requirements relating to financing of the network. TING is responsible for shortfalls between
$50,000
and
$150,000
per quarter. In Fiscal
2016,
the City has entered into financing for the construction of the WFN which allows the City to draw up to
$21
million, from their lenders, over the next
five
years with interest only payments during that period with a loan maturity of
30
years. As of
December
31,
2016,
the City has drawn
$1.7
million and City’s revenues from TING exceed the City’s debt service requirements. The Company does not believe it will be responsible for any shortfall in Fiscal
2017.
 
(c)
           In the normal course of its operations, the Company becomes involved in various legal claims and lawsuits. The Company intends to vigorously defend these claims. While the final outcome with respect to any actions outstanding or pending as of
December
 
31,
2016
cannot be predicted with certainty, it is the opinion of management that their resolution will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial position.