Kalona Cooperative Telephone Company

History of KCTC

M a r c h 2 0, 1 9 0 5: The Kalona Mutual Switchboard Company is founded. It now provides organized switching services to the previously independently operated farm lines, as well as to the town and county lines. The board of directors is comprised of four directors from the town and the president of each of the farm lines.
1 9 3 0: The Kalona Independent Telephone Company comes into existence. It handles the rural lines, each of which has its own officers. Annual switching dues are $7.00. The number of customers: 186
1 9 4 6: The two companies merge to form The Kalona Cooperative Switchboard Company. Number of customers: 500
1 9 5 0: The company grows rapidly. A new office building is constructed at 510 B avenue.
1 9 5 1: A new automatic drop switchboard is installed.
1 9 6 0: An automatic dial system is installed, and the old multiparty rural lines are now replaced by eight-party metallic lines. Total number of access lines: 500. Number of customers: 754. Total number of phones in service: 774.
1 9 6 7: An automatic direct dial identifier is installed. The four-party lines in the rural areas are replaced by two-party lines.
1 9 7 6: The company completes its evolution from eight-party metallic lines to a one-party underground service. KCTC leases to the Bell Telephone System the right to operate toll services within the Kalona system.
1 9 7 9: KCTC is by now the most advanced telephone company in the area, which includes Northwestern Bell, General Telephone, Continental Telephone, as well as the independent companies. It now offers many new services to its customers: answer and transfer, answer record and transfer with remote control, call diverters, automatic dialers, hands-free speaker phones, decorator phones, paging systems, etc.. The number of access lines: 1,326.
1 9 8 0: The new 8,000 square-foot building is open, more than doubling the size of the existing facility. It introduces the newest switching equipment as well as a computerized records management system. In addition, it houses expanded office space, a service garage, warehousing space, a conference room, and a display lobby. The local resident rate: $7.50. Number of access lines: 1344.
1 9 8 1: The KCTC receives a cable TV franchise from the town of Kalona. Number of access lines: 1,388.
1 9 8 2: The cable TV franchise is sold to Dow-Sat of Iowa. Number of access lines: 1,394.
1 9 8 3: The local resident rate increases from $7.50 to $9.00 per month. Number of access lines: 1,418.
1 9 8 6: KCTC is negotiating with AT&T for a direct connection contract. The company's mobile phone system in Iowa City is now installed and operational. Number of access lines: 1,474.
1 9 8 7: The paging system is up and running; its boundaries are Olds (south), Cedar Rapids (north), Sigourney (west) and Muscatine (east).
1 9 8 8: KCTC has now joined Iowa Network Services, Inc., a company that brings together small independent phone companies to be able to offer equal access and other competitive new services. The local rate is increased by 60 percent; a month - the first increase in five years. Number of access lines: 1,517.
1 9 9 1: The board of directors approves a 10-year plan that will push the company toward an all-fiber network and interactive video service delivery. Other services, such as video-on-demand, home shopping, and home banking are also discussed. KCTC plans to supply fiber-optic cable to all of its 1,590 customers within the next ten years. The emergency 911 system was set up to serve all of Washington county.
1 9 9 3: Completion of the Chamber of Commerce building and KCTC garage/shop space. KCTC gave the Kalona Public Library a new computer. Number of access lines: 1,699
1 9 9 4: KCTC is authorized by "The Beeper People" Electronic Engineering Company to offer statewide and area-wide toll free paging coverage. This service enables beepers to be paged anywhere within Iowa using the local Kalona or Washington County 7-digit phone number. Toll-free nationwide pager coverage is also offered. Cellular phones and modems are now commonly used throughout the KCTC exchange. The increase in residential and business lines makes additional demands on the system. As a result, area code prefixes are getting busier. KCTC customers are required to dial 1+ area code number for all long distance calls. Having outgrown its switching capabilities and service facilities, KCTC launches a major growing initiative. The cable plant expanded to provide service for Brookside and Rosebud subdivisions as well as replacing most of the cable along Hwy. 22 during the highway rebuilding process.

1 9 9 5: Cable plant expanded to service Northridge and Ramsey Oaks subdivisions. Installation of toll fiber and some backbone fiber for optical network units (ONU) sites. Number of access lines: 1,802.
1 9 9 6: All toll traffic routed over new redundant fiber route. Completion of the installation of a new Siemens EWSD digital switch which will provide the next generation of custom calling features, including Name & Number Caller ID, and will enable a host of new services such a ISDN. KCTC begins offering Internet Services to the local area and surrounding communities. Both the Mid Prairie Elementary and Middle School meet with KCTC to discuss assistance with wiring their entire buildings for data and telephone networks. Installation completed of fiber backbone to major ONU sites.
1 9 9 7: Installation begins on first ONU's. Completed installation of wiring and telephone system at Mid-Prairie Elementary, including 23,000 ft. of wire, most of which was donated by KCTC. KCTC also donated money during this time to the Kalona Public Library to purchase additional terminals. Internet classes are now offered at the Kalona Library free of charge. Work begins at Mid-Prairie Middle School on data and telephone networks. Number of access lines: 1,911.
1 9 9 8: During the beginning of 1998, the first customers are served by a KCTC ONU. Installation is completed on 22,000 ft. of wiring and a new phone system at Mid-Prairie Middle School. Additional ONU's are brought online and now serve outlying areas of the KCTC exchange, allowing the first ISDN circuits to be provided to rural customers. New fiber is buried to serve many additional customers. Number of access lines: 1,996.