• History
• Mission Statement
• Staff Directory
• Service Commitment
• Employment Opportunities

A BRIEF HISTORY

Brantley Telephone Company was established in April 1945, when Avery and Lena Strickland purchased the local company and its 52 subscribers. Up to then, Mr. Strickland had worked as a telephone line maintainer for the Georgia Forestry Department. His work maintaining the department’s 140 miles of lines in Brantley County gave him the experience he would need to operate his own telephone company.

With Mr. and Mrs. Strickland working day and night manning the switchboard, the company soon began to grow. By 1952, they had greatly improved the service quality, and Brantley Telephone had grown to 200 subscribers. That year also, Brantley Telephone Company was granted a corporate charter, and the original stockholders were: Avery Strickland, president; Elroy Strickland, vice president; and Lena Strickland, secretary and treasurer. The family made the move to incorporation as part of the company’s plan to expand into the rural areas of Brantley County.

Later in 1952, Brantley Telephone applied for and received a loan from the Rural Electrification Administration’s new telephone program. The federal funds would allow the company to begin to expand its service area, upgrade to a rotary-dial system, and construct a brick building in Nahunta to house the new equipment. Brantley was the first telephone company in south Georgia to offer rotary dial service, installing it even before Southern Bell did in Waycross or Brunswick. With the installation of the automatic equipment, the company’s growth became even more rapid, from 200 to 366 customers.

Steady progress continued at Brantley Telephone. In 1953, the company built new facilities in Nahunta and Hoboken. In 1965, the company added 127 miles of buried cable to upgrade eight-party rural services to four-party lines. The following year, the Hortense exchange was added. On June 11, 1970, Brantley inaugurated Direct Distance Dialing, and the mayor of Nahunta made the first long-distance call without operator assistance from Brantley County — again, Brantley Telephone was the first in south Georgia to provide this service. In 1977, a milestone was achieved when the 2000th customer was installed.

In 1985, Avery Strickland was inducted into the Peach State Chapter, Independent Telephone Pioneer Association Hall of Fame, in recognition of his outstanding achievement, dedication, and loyalty to the telecommunications industry. Through Mr. Strickland’s leadership, Brantley Telephone Company continued to keep pace with new technology and the many advances in the industry. In 1986, with the customer base now reaching 2,500, the company deployed new digital switching equipment. Mr. Strickland remained instrumental in company operations until it changed ownership in 1991.

Even with the ownership change, Brantley Telephone remained a family business. In 1991, Avery "Wade" Strickland, M.D., the oldest child of Avery and Lena Strickland, purchased the company’s outstanding stock from his four sisters. Dr. Strickland now serves as president of Brantley Telephone Company, and his son Donovan serves as vice president and general manager.

The years following Dr. Strickland’s purchase were busy ones for Brantley Telephone. In 1993, the company cut over its first fiber-optic cables and upgraded its facilities to provide one-party service across its entire service area. That year also marked Brantley Telephone’s initial move beyond plain old telephone services with its purchase of a DIRECTV franchise, enabling the company to offer digital video services to nine area counties. Brantley’s DIRECTV business grows and thrives to this day, and now boasts more than 14,000 customers in southeast Georgia.

In 1995, Brantley Telephone upgraded to a digital class-5 central office switch, which provided many more calling features to community residents. Brantley Telephone has maintained its position on the cutting edge of telecommunication services with dial-up Internet access in 1997 and high-speed DSL service access in 2002. The company now has in excess of 2,500 Internet subscribers. And in 2005, Brantley brought new service opportunities to its customers, by introducing its BTC Double Play service bundles, which combine local and long-distance voice services with dial-up and high-speed Internet access, all in one package.

Dr. Strickland has carried on the example set by his father and mother, by ensuring that Brantley Telephone Company would stay at the very forefront of technology. The company’s goal has been, and will always be, to provide its customers with high-quality telecommunications services at competitive rates. This service philosophy is at the very core of the company’s tremendous success in its first 60 years of business and makes the future for Brantley Telephone Company look equally strong.

back to top