VTCI History

Proud of our Past... Planning for our Future

Origin and Needs
During the 1940’s and 1950’s, rural homes in the Rio Grande Valley were being supplied by electrical cooperatives funded by Rural Electrification programs. Because of these conveniences, rural residents were eager to obtain rural telephone service.

A task force was set up by local residents to contact existing telephone companies to see if they were interested in providing telephone service. The various telephone companies they contacted felt it was too expensive and unprofitable to serve remote areas. Because of the negative response given by telephone companies, the task force decided that the only solution was to organize a telephone cooperative.

Meetings were held by local citizens in Willacy, Hidalgo, Cameron, Kenedy, and Starr Counties. Telephone surveys were conducted to determine the number of farm families interested in organizing a member-owned telephone cooperative. Membership applications and fees were collected to obtain the amount of equity required to be furnished in order to obtain an REA loan. (Membership fee of $50 with $5 paid upon signing an application)

Residents serving on this task force included James B. Pinson, B. C. Hester, Reid Rikard, Godfrey J. Lassig and others who handled inquiries and government paperwork with REA.

Organizational Steps
On September 28, 1950 at Monte Alto, Texas, the task force called a meeting of interested parties to formally organize a telephone cooperative. Reid Rikard, a Willacy County farmer, presided over the meeting.

At this meeting a cooperative name was selected, directors were elected, an application for a charter was completed, and bylaws were adopted. The organization of Valley Telephone Cooperative was approved and seven organizing directors were elected. Those elected were: Verner E. Gustafson, J. B. Pinson, and Godfrey J. Lassig, all of Lyford; L.R. Ayers of San Perlita; B. C. Hester of Hargill; and W. T. Holland and Reid Rikard, both of Raymondville.

A special meeting of the organizing directors was called following the meeting to elect officers, appoint an attorney, and appoint an acting manager. Reid Rikard was elected temporary Chairman; J. B. Pinson, President; Verner E. Gustafson, Vice-President; and B. C. Hester, Secretary-Treasurer.

Officers of Valley Telephone Cooperative signed an REA contract on Friday, October 6, 1950 which assured telephone service for Valley areas where telephone service has not been provided in the past.

During the following months, the organizing Board worked with the engineering firm of Lodel and Associates, REA personnel, the First National Bank of Raymondville, and J. E. Wilder, Manager of Magic Valley Electric Cooperative of Mercedes in organizing a cooperative telephone system and network.

Initial Incorporation
Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc. was incorporated under the laws of the State of Texas with charter and articles of incorporation on April 22, 1952. The sole purpose was to provide telephone service to rural subscribers deemed unfeasible to serve by the larger companies much like the electric cooperatives were formed a few years prior. The Rural Electrification Administration, (REA), created a telephone branch and made it possible for telephone cooperatives to borrow funds at a low interest rate over an extended period of time, (two percent for thirty-five years), to construct the lines and provide service.

The first meeting of the incorporators and directors of Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc. was held May 13, 1952 at the Lyford Gin Association offices in Lyford.

A lot of hard work by these founders going out and personally contacting and "signing up" applicants provided the necessary groundwork to apply for the first REA loan and start providing service in 1957. In the early years, the cooperative was comprised of two exchanges serving about one hundred fifty customers in rural Willacy and Western Hidalgo Counties.

Initial Funding & Growth
The first REA loan in the amount of $351,000 was approved on October 23, 1953. At this time, the Cooperative was comprised of four exchanges: Stillman, McCook, San Perlita, and Hargill.

The REA loan enabled the cooperative to buy existing facilities within San Perlita, Lasara, and Hargill from General Telephone Company and to improve service in the four original exchanges of the system. With the use of member equity and proceeds from the REA loan funds released on November 6, 1953, conversion to dial operation in the four exchanges was completed about July 26, 1957. As the REA telephone program developed and the people in rural areas became aware that telephone service was available, the Cooperative expanded westward through rural Hidalgo County to Starr County, North to Brooks and Duval Counties.

In the 1960's, Valley Telephone Cooperative merged with the Southwest Texas Telephone Cooperative which served the rural area in Frio County around Dilley, Texas - some 70 miles southwest of San Antonio. At the Annual Membership Meeting held June 8, 1963, members of the South West Texas Telephone Cooperative accepted the plans for merger with Valley Telephone Cooperative. On October 19, 1964, the final papers were signed. Artesia Wells, Millett, and San Miguel exchanges in Frio and LaSalle Counties were added to the Valley Telephone Cooperative System.

The expansion continued with the acquisition of three additional exchanges purchased from General Telephone in 1968 and 1979 which brought the total to seventeen for the system. It was decided that an upgrade program be implemented to rebuild and ultimately provide one party service throughout the system. This was completed in 1982.

Valley Telephone Cooperative has since grown from two exchanges to 17 exchanges in 17 counties covering approximately 7,300 square miles with approximately 5,200 route miles of buried fiber and copper cable serving approximately 6,110 customer access lines.

Acquisitions
REA “B” Loan funds in 1959 made possible the establishment of the Port Mansfield exchange.
The REA “C” Loan made possible the establishment of the San Isidro exchange which was cutover in 1961.
The REA “D” Loan made possible the establishment of the Lasara and Encino exchanges during January 1963.

In 1968, the exchanges of El Sauz in Starr County, Concepcion in Duval County, and the Annarose exchange in McMullen and Live Oak were created and added to the system with funds provided by the “E” Loan.

The 1964 merger with South West Texas Telephone Cooperative plus these three new exchanges brought the number of exchanges in the cooperative to 14. The cooperative consisted of an area of 25 miles in 16 counties of South Texas.

The “M” Loan Funds from REA allowed the purchase of three more exchanges from General Telephone Company of the Southwest on December 21, 1979. These new exchanges, Fowlerton, Mirando City, and Tilden, brought 383 new subscribers to the cooperative bringing the total of exchanges to 17.

Land and Buildings
Valley Telephone’s new headquarters building at 480 S. 6th Street in Raymondville, Texas, was completed in December, 1979. An expansion of the headquarters building which approximately doubled the size was completed in 1994.

The Network Operations Center (NOC) in Raymondville, which houses the main switching equipment and the main cable distribution frame, was completed in 1991. It was renamed the Harvey Tandem in 1994 upon the retirement of General Manager Roscoe Harvey.

The Dilley Building expansion was completed during 1996.

A new Operations Service Center was constructed on 80 acres acquired by VTCI on Highway 88 in Lasara, Texas, and was put into service in January, 2005. This building was funded on an RUS (formerly REA) “S” loan.

General Managers
The first manager, M. C. Brown, was hired in July of 1955. Between 1955 and 1963, five General Managers were hired: M.C. Brown, Chester Max Moore, Don Hall, Tommy B. Karnes, and Roscoe Harvey. Mr. Harvey served as General Manager from 1963 until his retirement in 1994.

The Valley Telephone Board of Directors appointed Asim Saber to the position of General Manager in 1994. Mr. Saber held the position of General Manager until February, 1997.

After serving as Interim General Manager since February, 1997, the Valley Telephone Board of Directors appointed Charles Gowder to the permanent position of General Manager on October 13, 1997. Mr. Gowder held the position of General Manager until September, 2004.

The Valley Telephone Board of Directors appointed Dave Osborn to the position of General Manager on April 4, 2005. Mr. Osborn was previously the General Manager of the VTX Broadband, Inc. which is VTCI’s internet subsidiary.