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Cincinnati Bell history
Cincinnati Bell company history timeline
By 1874 the fledgling company had issued stock to raise funds, held its first shareholders' meeting, and selected a president.
In July 1877, James O. Shiras demonstrated Alexander Bell’s new invention to Cincinnati businessmen in Kilgour’s study.
On August 21, 1877, it signed its first telephone customer, the Cincinnati Gas-Light and Coke Company (later known as Cincinnati Gas and Electric).
In its early years the company operated at a deficit, but by mid-1877, it had installed nearly 50 private telegraph lines between homes and offices.
In 1878, it gained exclusive rights to the Bell franchise within a 25-mile (40 km) radius of Cincinnati, becoming the first telephone exchange in Ohio and the tenth in the United States.
The first Cincinnati telephone directory was printed in 1879, with 500 listings and warnings against the use of “profane, obscene or improper language.”
Women operators known as “hello girls” replaced men on the switchboard in 1884 because customers complained the men had been rude.
Despite these setbacks, by 1885 the system had expanded to include 450 towns surrounding Cincinnati, and an ever-increasing number of customers within city limits.
In 1893, Cincinnati's first long-distance call was put through to the mayor of New York City.
The company was renamed Cincinnati and Suburban Bell Telephone Company in 1903.
In the following year, the first public coin-operated phones were installed, and in 1905 they began appearing on city streets.
The city’s first outdoor pay phone debuted in 1905 on Fifth Street in front of the Joseph R. Peebles’ Sons Co. grocery store between Walnut and Main.
In 1918 the federal government assumed operation of all telephone companies until the signing of a peace treaty in November of that year.
In July of 1919 the first union of Cincinnati Bell employees was formed when the Telephone Employees Association was voted into existence to advocate for higher wages and better working conditions.
By 1923, its fiftieth year, Cincinnati Bell's network incorporated almost 141,000 phones.
By 1929 Cincinnati Bell boasted a network of nearly 200,000 telephones, and assets worth $38 million.
Building at 209 W. Seventh St, at the corner of Elm, opened in 1931.
In 1937 service to 13,000 Cincinnati Bell telephones was knocked out when the Ohio River flooded once again, spilling over its banks and cresting at 80 feet.
1939 also marked the end of the company's financial downturn when the number of its telephones in service once again began to increase.
In 1941 Cincinnati Bell celebrated the installation of its 100,000th phone.
Still, in October of 1946 it became the first Bell System company to clear up its wartime backlog of orders.
The company inaugurated service on its 300,000th telephone in 1947.
By 1952 Cincinnati Bell had attained its goal of converting its entire system to dial service.
1962 marked the installation of the company's 600,000th phone, as well as the first billing of long-distance customers by the number and destination of their call.
Seven-digit dialing was introduced in 1962.
In 1968, electromechanical switching equipment was replaced by one of the first electronic switching systems.
The company formally simplified its name to Cincinnati Bell in 1971.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Cincinnati Bell reorganized itself as a holding company and entered the software business, forming Cincinnati Bell Information Systems, Inc. in 1983 to sell computer programs for telecommunications systems.
In January of 1984 the company began to repurchase the 33 percent of its stock held by AT&T, severing a financial relationship, but not the business relationship, that had lasted for more than a century.
AT&T owned 32.6% of Cincinnati Bell until 1984, at which point the shares AT&T owned were placed into a trust and then sold.
In 1988 the company also bought Vanguard Technologies International, Inc., for $72 million.
The company faced two sharp setbacks in 1991: the bankruptcy of a company in which Cincinnati Bell was a minor investor and the failure of a program developed by the company's software arm.
By the end of 1991 Cincinnati Bell had acquired and enfolded nearly 20 separate companies into its corporate structure, expanding its customer base from Cincinnati and its environs to much of the United States, Europe, and Japan.
Cincinnati Bell saw overall profits sink by more than 50 percent in 1991 and cut about 550 staff positions.
1992 First in the nation to deploy SONET ring technology
1994 First in the nation to deploy Metro Ethernet services
In 2002, Cincinnati Bell sold Cincinnati Bell Directory.
In 2003, when BellSouth exited the payphone market, some former BellSouth payphones in Kentucky were sold to Cincinnati Bell.
In 2004, the holding company divested the long-distance operation as Broadwing Corporation and changed its name back to Cincinnati Bell.
2010 Cincinnati Bell Fioptics reaches milestone of 25,000 customers
2014 First in region to launch Gigabit Internet speed offering
2016 An additional 21,700 units were passed with Fioptics, which is now available to 454,000 addresses within Greater Cincinnati
However, the company continued to use the Bell logo in promotional materials for residential landline and long-distance service until another it adopted a new logo in 2016.
In 2017, Cincinnati Bell acquired Toronto-based OnX Enterprise Solutions for $201 million.
On July 2, 2018, Cincinnati Bell acquired Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc., parent of local telephone company Hawaiian Telcom, for $650 million.
In September 2021, Cincinnati Bell was acquired by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets.
2022 Cincinnati Bell announces new brand and will do business as altafiber
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Cincinnati Bell competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairpoint Communications | 1991 | $824.4M | 3,300 | 6 |
| T-Mobile | 1994 | $81.4B | 75,000 | 1,025 |
| U.S. Cellular | 1983 | $4.2B | 5,000 | - |
| Mitel | 1973 | $1.3B | 4,200 | 12 |
| CenturyLink | 1930 | $13.1B | 42,500 | 104 |
| ITC DeltaCom Inc | 1997 | $11.0M | 25 | - |
| Qwest | 1996 | $11.4B | 30,000 | - |
| MPower Communications | 1995 | $150.6M | 750 | - |
| Spirit Communications | 1984 | $21.4M | 300 | - |
| GTE Corporation | 1918 | $19.0M | 50 | - |
Cincinnati Bell history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Cincinnati Bell, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Cincinnati Bell. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Cincinnati Bell. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Cincinnati Bell. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Cincinnati Bell and its employees or that of Zippia.
Cincinnati Bell may also be known as or be related to Cbts Technology Solutions LLC, Cincinnati Bell, Cincinnati Bell Inc and Cincinnati Bell Inc.