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Pioneer Comm history
Pioneer Comm company history timeline
On October 27, 1950, a group of representatives from Grant, Hamilton, Haskell, Morton and Stevens counties in Kansas met in Ulysses at the offices of the local electric cooperative.
Spread out across 13 counties and with over 20,000 customers, it’s amazing to see how far Pioneer Communications has come since 1950.
--From the January 16, 1951, minutes of the Board of Directors meeting of the Pioneer Telephone Association.
March 1951 – First staff is hired.
In June of 1951, REA approved a loan in the amount of $1,089,000.
Near the end of the 1951, the option to purchase the Border Telephone Company expired and the owners of Border declined to renew it.
At the reconvened Kansas Corporation Commission hearing on February 18, 1952, testimony was given indicating that 99 business persons and farmers had pledged more than $72,000 in equity that would be required for the acquisition of an REA loan.
In June, 1952, the KCC denied Pioneer's application for a certificate of convenience and necessity to operate as a telephone utility.
A KCC hearing was held on October 19, 1953 to consider Pioneer's application to purchase the Ulysses exchange from the F & M Telephone Company and the Moscow and Rolla exchanges from the Winsted Telephone Company and to be allowed to operate as a telephone utility.
Since 1953, Pioneer Telephone Cooperative has provided Western Oklahomans and businesses with the best communication tools to keep our customers connected with the people, communities, and information that matters most.
After a three year struggle Pioneer became an operating telephone company and by mid year of 1954, construction on the new dial system had begun.
By late 1955, Pioneer had purchased the Johnson, Manter, and Satanta exchanges pending KCC approval.
At 12:01 A.M on June 3, 1956, Pioneer cut the Ulysses exchange to dial.
The purchase of the Syracuse exchange from the Border Telephone Company was approved by the Kansas Corporation Commission on October, 7, 1959.
In April, 1960, Pioneer purchased the Lakin exchange from Southwestern Bell.
In May of 1964, Pioneer began automated billing using IBM billing equipment.
In early 1965, Pioneer sought funds from REA to upgrade all urban subscribers to single party service and all rural subscribers to one party.
On January 6, 1972, Pioneer was awarded the first Rural Telephone Bank loan granted by REA.
1978 — the first digital central office was installed.
1987 — In April longtime General Manager Joseph B. Chilen retired and was replaced by Richard Veach.
1998 — Pioneer entered into the multichannel video business by acquiring the cable television franchises in local communities and offered Cable TV to twenty-two communities across western Kansas.
2002 — Pioneer Communications along with Midwest Energy began WestLink Communications, a cellular telephone company.
2008 — Pioneer Communications completed the upgrade of its DSL equipment, Pioneer increased the basic DSL High-Speed Internet service from 1.5Mbps to 6 Mbps downstream.
2009 — Pioneer Communications began a Fiber-To-The-Premise deployment (FTTP).
2013 — WestLink Communications was sold.
2014 — Pioneer Communications begins the transition from a Digital Telephony Switch to an IP Telephony Switch.
2015 — Pioneer begins to offer faster internet speeds.
2017 — Ulysses is converted to 100% fiber optic network.
2018 — A new streaming video service is launched called StreamTV.
2019 — All customers are converted from traditional RF cable TV to StreamTV. Traditional RF cable TV is decommissioned.
2020 — Began construction of state of the art fiber optic network in Garden City.
2020 — Sublette, Holcomb, Scott City, and Leoti are upgraded to a DOCSIS 3.1 network allowing for faster internet speeds and greater reliability.
2021 — Johnson and Manter are converted to 100% fiber optic network.
2022 — Satanta is converted to 100% fiber optic network.
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Pioneer Comm competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott County Telephone Cooperative | 1951 | $10.0M | 72 | - |
| NOS Communications | 1989 | $440.0M | 1,150 | - |
| TABLE TOP TELEPHONE | 1995 | $11.0M | 28 | - |
| Home Telecom | 1904 | $10.0M | 50 | - |
| Smart Choice Communications | 1998 | $3.1M | 15 | 7 |
| Citizens Telephone Cooperative Inc. | 1953 | $50.0M | 125 | - |
| Fidelity Communications | 1940 | $21.0M | 350 | - |
| Tel Tech Networks | 2001 | $7.5M | 110 | - |
| WOW! Internet | 2001 | $630.9M | 1,500 | - |
| Plateau Telecommunications | 1949 | $42.9M | 50 | - |
Pioneer Comm history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Pioneer Comm, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Pioneer Comm. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Pioneer Comm. 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 Pioneer Comm. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Pioneer Comm and its employees or that of Zippia.
Pioneer Comm may also be known as or be related to Pioneer Comm, Pioneer Communications and PioneerCommunications.