Beggs
Telephone Company, Inc. is a family owned and operated business serving
100 square miles in and around the Beggs community. Its history began in
1928 and has spanned three generations. Each generation has worked in
the business, changing and enhancing it over time. Originally the
exchange was an open wire and magneto system with only a handful of
subscribers.In 1954, the company was incorporated; and in 1955, a new
dial system was installed making the Beggs exchange the first in
Okmulgee County to provide dial tone to its customers.
Over the years many changes have taken place including refinancing of
the company through a series of REA loans and then rebuilding of the
entire system with a new XY switch, underground cable, and a new
combination office building and central office. This new building was
completed and ready for occupancy in November 1971. By 1972 the entire
exchange had been cutover to one party service making Beggs one of the
first exchanges in Oklahoma to provide private line service to all its
subscribers including those in the rural area. That same year Direct
Distance Dialing became available to all Beggs Telephone Company
customers.
In the 1980’s when the computer revolution touched the telephone
industry, the XY switch was replaced with central and remote office
digital switches and a fiber optic toll facility. The cutover to this
new system in 1987 meant that Beggs Telephone Company was one of the
first rural exchanges to offer customer services normally available only
in larger cities.
In 1989 the Company expanded its operations to include wireless
Cellular service. Over the last several years, a series of outside plant
underground cable projects have been completed to improve service in the
rural areas. Fiber optic cable has been placed in many areas of the
exchange in anticipation of further service enhancements.
In 1998 a new digital switch was installed to enable System Signaling
Seven (SS7) Services. One such service is Caller Identification of name
and number. Customers can now choose from a variety of calling services
to improve their daily lives. Such services as Voicemail, Call
Forwarding, and Call Waiting are just a few of the special calling
features that are available through the new digital switch.
In 2000 a new warehouse building was built and encompasses the ground
where the original building for the Company once stood. The new building
houses outside plant equipment, tools, and cable. It also serves as an
archive of Company records and office space for outside plant personnel.
Also in 2000 the Company became an Internet Service Provider and in
December began offering Internet services to its customers.
The Beggs Telephone Company is currently undertaking a major outside
plant cabling revision project. Eventually a fiber network with
individual nodes will be a reality for the entire rural exchange. This
new cable/node project effectively will make distance from rural homes
to central office equipment shorter thereby allowing enhanced data
services. As part of the cable/node project, digital subscriber line
(DSL) services began in 2001 and are now available even in the remote
areas of the exchange.
