Brandenburg, KY-2020 Telco

AS WE CELEBRATE OUR 70 TH ANNIVERSARY, HERE’S A LOOK BACK AT OUR HISTORY The history of the Brandenburg Telephone family of companies began in 1898. Originally, Meade County Telephone Company was started by C. M. White of Meade County. Mr. White is credited with stating “If the telephone is not today a necessity of life, it soon will be.” It is unlikely that Mr. White could even have known how prophetic his statement actually would become. (Who could have foreseen, at this time, that we would all be walking around with telephones in our pockets or using the telecommunications network to access computers, that had not yet been invented, to access a “web” that at the time would have seemed like science-fiction, if even dreamed up.) Brandenburg was one of the earliest companies to deploy a completely fiber backbone network between its switches. Fiber optic transport is much more reliable and expands the quality and service which we can provide. The fiber network is deployed using ring technology so outages are minimized in the event of cable cuts. Brandenburg is in the process of deploying a complete fiber-to-the-home system. Brandenburg’s Gigabit fiber network “BBTEL CONNECT” will become a reality for our customers over the next few years. There are only a few select cities across the US that have this technology. This will mean that the reliability and robustness of fiber technology will be available to customers all the way into the home. This enables customers to receive GIG service (virtually unlimited bandwidth to each premise). This technology opens the possibility of people working from home and students attending school virtually. Brandenburg makes every effort to provide businesses throughout the area with fiber connectivity if a need exists. High-speed internet availability can provide vast opportunities to a community today, and this BBTEL CONNECT service will help position our communities to be leaders in bringing new businesses and industry to this area.

In 1900, the Meade County Telephone Company records show that there were three families receiving telephone service on one short line. Meade County Telephone was replaced by Brandenburg Telephone Company in 1950 and was providing reliable connections from our rural communities to the world. This was a time when telecommunications were in its infancy and investment in such a company was a significant risk. It was difficult to get people to sign up and pay for a service when there were so few people who were connected. The classic ‘chicken or the egg’ situation - how do you get customers on a calling service until there are already many others on the system to call? Brandenburg Telephone Company was established by civic-minded people who desired to better their communities for the future. Throughout the company’s history, the focus of providing the best service available to our customers at the best possible rates, along with always being accessible to customers, has not waivered. Brandenburg has been through several generations of technology over the years. In 1954, the Brandenburg exchange was cut to a dial switch from the old magneto-type crank sets (previously, each call was completed by a live person – the live operator at a switchboard we sometimes see in old movies). The company undertook significant changes during the 1950’s. Brandenburg Telephone Company was the first independent company (not a Bell or General affiliate) in Kentucky to offer direct distance dialing (long distance calling without the aid of an operator). One-party service was implemented early on (long before most rural areas) to replace two, four, and eight party services, so customers no longer had to share their communication lines. Between 1979 and 1983, all Brandenburg facilities were again upgraded to digital technology, which was state-of-the-art until quite recently. Brandenburg Telephone Company was the first telephone company in the state of Kentucky to have a completely digital system. Recently, the switching technology has been upgraded to the most current IP (internet protocol) platform. This technology is used to provide a wide variety of services. IT’S NOT JUST TELEPHONE SERVICE ANYMORE! The telephone industry is constantly implementing new technologies in order to provide more efficient and useful services to subscribers. In virtually every case, Brandenburg is among the first communications companies in the country to provide these services to its subscribers. Brandenburg endeavors to remain a very self-sufficient company, performing our own engineering, construction, programming, billing, customer service, marketing, right of way maintenance, technology planning and monitoring. This way, quality can be assured and the local economy is supported through economic development opportunities and jobs here at home. The Brandenburg family of companies employs approximately 120 people and participates in the student co-op programs in cooperation with the area’s high schools. Brandenburg uses many college students on a part-time basis to help support these young people while they pursue their education. Brandenburg began providing Internet Service Provider (ISP) services in 1995. Hosted email, web hosting and local tech support (including 24-hour help desk) are provided. VLANs, VPNs, VPLS, Ethernet and direct fiber connections (all broadband connections) are supported. Brandenburg began offering Digital Video (cable TV competitor) in 2002. This service offers a complete lineup of regional and national programming along with local content. High-definition channels, Digital Video Recorders, Pay Per View and many other options are available with this offering. Brandenburg Telephone Company has expanded into multiple companies as a function of regulation and the market. The organization now encompasses regulated and de-regulated companies, a cellular affiliate (Bluegrass Cellular), a network company and corporate holding company.

When this upgrade is complete, Brandenburg will have deployed thousands of miles of fiber, at a cost of over $100,000,000 of investment in its service area and will provide a quality of services second to none anyplace in this country and beyond. Brandenburg prides itself on the quality and responsiveness of the services it is able to provide to its customers. The goal is to provide the best services available anywhere at reasonable rates. In addition, Brandenburg was a founding partner of Bluegrass Cellular, which was the first company to provide cellular service to the rural areas of central Kentucky - a service area encompassing 34 counties in central Kentucky and providing national and international services. Brandenburg has expanded its service area from the original parts of three counties to encompass parts or all of 5 contiguous counties in north central Kentucky. Brandenburg has grown over the years to serve more territory because larger companies were unwilling to provide service (or the quality of service) to the rural areas. The Radcliff exchange, in its infancy, bordered Fort Knox Military Reservation and lay equidistance between the then Bell territory in Louisville and the then General territory in Elizabethtown. Neither of these companies was willing to serve the new town. Brandenburg did, however, take that chance and has been instrumental in helping that town and others within our service area grow by insuring that outstanding telecommunications service has been available. Customer service remains a paramount focus. Customer calls are answered by a live person – a person who can find assistance for that caller. The Public Service Commission’s standards for limited outages have been exceeded for decades. The internal company standards far exceed those set by the regulators. The company prides itself on rapid response to any customer issue. Today, Brandenburg Telephone and its affiliated companies serve approximately 25,000 customers with a wide variety of services. The service offerings have grown from basic local and long distance service to include all advanced calling features, broadband services provided over fiber optic facilities, television video services, security systems, smart home features and phone systems. The company aims to be the best and most complete communications provider for our customers. Brandenburg continues to look to the future and offer service and technology that we hope makes our service areas some of the best places to live.

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