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Indiana Bell

Telecommunications company

Indiana Bell Telephone Company, Incorporated, is the Bell Operating Company serving Indiana. It is an indirect subsidiary of AT&T Inc., owned by AT&T Teleholdings.

01History

Indiana Bell was founded in 1920 to function as the central Bell telephone company in the state of Indiana. It purchased the Indiana operations of the Central Union Telephone Company and also purchased the Indianapolis Telephone Company. It continued to expand throughout the 1920s through acquisitions.

In 1930, Indiana Bell's headquarters building in Indianapolis was relocated 52 feet (16 m) to the south and 100 feet (30 m) west of its original location while employees continued working in it. The move was an engineering feat of its time.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the company continued to expand by acquiring many smaller telephone companies throughout the state.

After the 1984 Bell System Divestiture, Indiana Bell became a part of Ameritech, one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies.

In 1990, the independent board of directors of Indiana Bell was dissolved.

Presidents

  • Edgar S. Bloom, 1920-1921
  • Curtis H. Rottger, 1921-1930
  • James F. Carroll, 1930-1946
  • William A. Hughes, 1946-1948
  • Harry S. Hanna, 1948-1960
  • Roy C. Echols, 1960-1968
  • Thomas S. Nurnberger, 1968-1970
  • David K. Easlick, 1970-1971
  • James E. Olson, 1972-1974
  • John W. Arbuckle, 1974-1976
  • Delbert C. "Bud" Staley, 1976-1978
  • William L. Weiss, 1978v1981
  • Philip A. Campbell, 1981-1982
  • William P. Vititoe, 1982-1983
  • Ramon L. Humke, 1983-1989
  • Richard C. Notebaert, 1989-1992
  • Thomas J. Reiman, 1992-1994
  • Kent A. Lebherz, 1994-2000
  • George S. Fleetwood, 2000-2013
  • William L. Soards II, 2013-2026

Corporate rebranding

The Indiana Bell name continued to be used until January 1993, when Ameritech dropped all individual Bell Operating Company names in favor of using the corporate name for marketing purposes, and Indiana Bell began doing business under the trade name Ameritech Indiana. In 2001, two years after Ameritech was acquired by SBC Communications, SBC rebranded all of its companies to include the SBC name, and Indiana Bell began doing business as SBC Ameritech Indiana. In 2002, SBC rebranded all of its companies simply as "SBC" for use as a national brand. Indiana Bell then started doing business as SBC Indiana. After AT&T Corporation was acquired by SBC Communications for $16 billion, SBC renamed itself AT&T, resulting in Indiana Bell taking the trade name AT&T Indiana.

Official formation of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company, April 1, 1920
Official formation of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company, April 1, 1920
Watch videos about Indiana BellExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Indiana Bell, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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