![]() ![]() It investigated CATV service and purchase opportunities throughout the United system. With expertise in electronic telephone service transmission, United moved into the transmission of high-quality multi-channeled television reception. Through United subsidiaries, communications systems were beginning to merge. was a new venture developed in 1965 to design and operate community antenna television systems (CATV). The 1964 purchase from AT & T of a 45% interest in Inter-Mountain Telephone Company, servicing Virginia and eastern Tennessee, made United a major contender in the telephone industry. In the 1960s United benefited from the burgeoning market for farm and home intercommunications systems, including security devices, telephone extensions, answering machines, mobile service, leased wire services, and key and dial switching equipment. To transmit such calls, AT & T required the use of United's facilities, for which it agreed to pay $1.25 million for the 12-month period ending June 1, 1963. Another positive development for United Utilities in 1963 was the increase in long-distance calling. United's growth spurt was attributed to many factors: acquisitions of telephone companies increases in suburban populations, a United stronghold as opposed to American Telephone & Telegraph (AT & T)-controlled urban centers successful pressure for rate increases and the relative ease with which technical innovation could be introduced, because of United's manageable size. United set up aggressive sales programs to market such innovations. Another industry advance was made in a North Carolina subsidiary: United completed the United States's first private electronic branch exchange, an advance over conventional switchboard systems and a predecessor of automatic dialing, call-waiting, and caller identification systems. United became the first major telephone system to offer dial service-the state of the art at the time-to all its customers by year-end 1963. With local telephone exchanges in 15 states, telephone service provided roughly 90% of company revenues. In contrast, number-two General Telephone & Electronics (GT & E) had 1.1 million telephones.īy 1963, when United Utilities was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, it had $200 million in assets and owned 14 telephone companies, a gas and electric company, and a utility merchandising firm. By the late 1950s a trend of telephone company mergers was evident independent telephone companies had declined in number over a ten-year period by 35%.īy 1960 United Utilities was the third-largest telephone holding company in the United States, with 467,000 telephones operating. During the mid-1950s United entered the liquid petroleum gas business through acquisitions in Illinois. By 1953 United was ranked fifth among U.S. The Public Utility Holding Company Act caused the company to sell gas, light, and water properties outside of the northwest Kansas area.ĭuring the 1940s, through integrations and mergers, United Utilities grew as a holding company for independent telephone systems. In November 1938 the company was incorporated in Kansas as United Utilities, Inc., along with seven telephone companies and Central Kansas Power. Upon Brown's death in 1935, United Telephone & Electric fell into receivership. ![]() With utility operations remaining stable, United acquired several independent telephone companies. Diversification into other businesses was ended by the Great Depression. The fledgling company was incorporated in Delaware on September 25, 1925, as the United Telephone & Electric Company. In 1898 Brown hung telephone wire on his electric poles and quickly extended the business to other towns. The company history extends back to 1892 when Cleysen Brown connected a generator to his father's grist mill, supplying electric power for Abilene, Kansas. company offering both local and long-distance services. United Telecommunications, Inc., (United Telecom) provides voice, data, and videoconferencing transmission and related products for the global market. ![]() Incorporated: 1925 as United Telephone & Electric Company ![]()
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