The Legacy Of The Louisiana Independent Telephone Industry
Past, Present And Future

I. The Past | II. The Present | III. The Future

Today, twenty Independent telephone companies operate in Louisiana with the total number of 1361 employees providing telephone service for approximately 149,000 subscribers. This equates to one out of every 14 telephone customers in Louisiana being served by an Independent, locally operated telephone company. In square miles, approximately 35% of Louisiana is served by these same twenty independent telephone companies. It is important to note that the areas served by these Independents continues to be rural in nature.

The cost to provide telephone service in rural areas is typically greater than the cost of AT&T, now South Central Bell (SCB), must bear to provide service in urban areas. This cost differential is primarily due to differences in subscriber density between urban and rural areas; it simply requires many more feet of telephone cable to serve the average rural customer than it does to serve the average urban customer. In spite of this cost disadvantage, Independents have been successful in maintaining local telephone rates near the level for SCB service.

The quality of service in the areas served by the Independents has improved consistently since the inception of the first Independent telephone company. This improvement has been made possible largely through the investments of millions of dollars by the Independents to continually improve and modernize its' switching equipment and outside plant cable networks.

Switching equipment has evolved from early manual switchboards to mechanical switching machines in the 1940's to today's state-of-the-art digital electronic switching facilities. The Independent telephone industry in Louisiana estimates that the conversion to digital switching for all of Louisiana Independents will be 100% complete by the end of 1995.

Outside plant cable facilities have experienced an even greater evolution. The Independents have progressively improved their facilities from open wire to sheated cable carrier/microwave facilities, and finally, to the introduction of fiber optic facilities in the local and toll networks. Again, these technological improvements have resulted in continued improved telephone service for rural Louisiana telephone customers.