 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Communications Services |
| Founded | 1958 |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | GTE |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Products | Internet access, Local wireline and wireless telecommunication services |
ConTel Corporation (Continental Telephone) was the third largest independent phone company in the United States prior to it being acquired by GTE in 1991.
Contel was founded in 1961 by Charles Wohlstetter, Philip J. Lucier, and one other partner. Continental was formed with the acquisition of the 2,000‐station Millstadt Ill., telephone. exchange. Philip J. Lucier was the company’s president until his death in July 24, 1970, after a bomb exploded in a company auto mobile on the parking lot of the Pierre Lacleve Center in Clayton. Mr. Lucier was in the driver’s seat at the time of the explosion.
In 1980, Contel purchased Network Analysis Corp, then the largest information technology consulting company in the world. [1] As a result of this purchase, future Internet Hall of Fame Pioneer Howard Frank served as president and CEO of Contel Information Systems, a subsidiary of Contel Corporation from 1969 until 1985. [2]
In 1986 ConTel of Indiana broke precedent and rescinded a 25¢ increase in their rates after a large protest. The vice president Merle Buck stated the protests were not about the decision, but for a decrease in interest rates and an abnormally good year in revenue for the company offset the costs the increase would have offset.
Subsidiaries of Contel included:
GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing further back than that, until 2000, when it was acquired by Bell Atlantic, which changed its name to Verizon.
A Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) was a corporate entity created as result of the antitrust lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice against the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1974 and settled in the Modification of Final Judgment on January 8, 1982.
Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, healthcare, video, smart home automation and IPTV television. The company is based in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area; it was originally based in Edmonton, Alberta, before its merger with BC Tel in 1999. Telus' wireless division, Telus Mobility, offers UMTS, and LTE-based mobile phone networks. Telus is the incumbent local exchange carrier in British Columbia and Alberta. Its primary competitors are Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. Telus is a member of the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.
Albert James Wohlstetter was an American political scientist noted for his influence on U.S. nuclear strategy during the Cold War. He and his wife Roberta Wohlstetter, an accomplished historian and intelligence expert, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan on November 7, 1985.
British Columbia Telephone Company and later BC Tel was the legal name for the telephone company operating throughout the province of British Columbia, Canada. For most of its history, BC Tel was one of several regional monopolies in Canada. In 1985, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) restored competition in long-distance telephone service. In 1998, BC Tel merged with Telus to become the second largest telecommunications company in Canada.
The monopoly position of the Bell System in the U.S. was ended on January 8, 1982. AT&T Corporation proposed by in a consent decree to relinquish control of the Bell Operating Companies, which had provided local telephone service in the United States. AT&T would continue to be a provider of long-distance service, while the now-independent Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), nicknamed the "Baby Bells", would provide local service, and would no longer be directly supplied with equipment from AT&T subsidiary Western Electric.
Embarq Corporation was the largest independent local exchange carrier in the United States, serving customers in 18 states and providing local, long-distance, high-speed data and wireless services to residential and business customers. It had been formerly the local telephone division (LTD) of Sprint Nextel until 2006, when it was spun off as an independent company. Embarq produced more than $6 billion in revenues annually, and had approximately 18,000 employees. It was based in Overland Park, Kansas.
Verizon South, Inc. is a Verizon operating company providing local telephone services to portions of Virginia and North Carolina in the United States.
Frontier North, Inc. is a local telephone operating company owned by Frontier Communications.
Frontier California, Inc. is a Frontier Communications-owned operating company providing telephone service in former Verizon regions. This included Southern California cities such as Long Beach, Seal Beach, Lakewood, Norwalk and Santa Monica.
Frontier Midstates, Inc. is a telephone operating company of Frontier Communications serving Indiana and Michigan. It was originally owned by Contel, and later purchased by GTE, Verizon, and then sold to Frontier.
Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. is an American telecommunications company. Known as Citizens Utilities Company until 2000, Citizens Communications Company until 2008, and Frontier Communications Corporation until 2020, as a communications provider with a fiber-optic network and cloud-based services, Frontier offers broadband internet, digital television, and computer technical support to residential and business customers in 25 states. In some areas it also offers home phone services.
Centel Corporation was an American telecommunications company, with primary interests in providing basic telephone service, cellular phone service and cable television service.
An independent telephone company was a telephone company providing local service in the United States or Canada that was not part of the Bell System organized by American Telephone and Telegraph. Independent telephone companies usually operated in many rural or sparsely populated areas.
Frontier Communications of the Southwest Inc. is a Frontier Communications operating company providing local telephone services to former Verizon California territory in Arizona, California, and Nevada. The company was created as a subsidiary of New Communications ILEC Holdings by Verizon in 2009 and sold on July 1, 2010 to Frontier.
CenturyLink of Florida, Inc. is a telephone operating company providing local telephone services in Florida owned by Lumen Technologies.
TDS Telecom is an American telecommunications company with headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems Inc, and is the seventh-largest local exchange carrier in the U.S. TDS Telecom offers telephone, broadband Internet and television services to customers in 30 states and more than 900 rural and suburban communities, though it also serves some urban metropolitan communities. It also sells businesses communications services, including VoIP phone service, dedicated broadband Internet and hosted-managed services. With headquarters in Madison, TDS Telecom operates TDS Broadband LLC, and BendBroadband, and TDS Metrocom, LLC. Combined, the company employs nearly 3,300 people. In 2019, TDS Telecom and parent company TDS Inc. celebrated 50 years in business.
Page Communications Engineers, Inc. was a 20th-century communications engineering firm that later became a subsidiary of a variety of communications and defense contractors. It is notable for, among other things, constructing the Vietnam portion of the U.S. military's Integrated Wideband Communications System in Vietnam and Thailand during the Vietnam War.
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