Contel

ConTel Corporation (Continental Telephone) was the third largest independent phone company in the United States prior to the 1996 telecom deregulation. It was acquired by GTE in 1991.

History
Contel was founded in 1961 by Charles Wohlstetterin, Philip J. Lucier, and one other partner. Continental was formed with the acquisition of the 2,000‐station Millstadt Ill., telephone. exchange. Philip J. Lucier was the company’s president until his death in July 24, 1970, after a bomb exploded in a company auto mobile on the parking lot of the Pierre Lacleve Center in Clayton. Mr. Lucier was in the driver’s seat at the time of the explosion.

In 1980, Contel purchased Network Analysis Corp, then the largest information technology consulting company in the world. As a result of this purchase, future Internet Hall of Fame Pioneer Howard Frank served as president and CEO of Contel Information Systems, a subsidiary of Contel Corporation from 1969 until 1985.

In 1986 ConTel of Indiana broke precedent and rescinded a 25¢ increase in their rates after a large protest. The vice president Merle Buck stated the protests were not about the decision, but for a decrease in interest rates and an abnormally good year in revenue for the company offset the costs the increase would have offset.

Legacy
In 1996, a separate and unrelated entity known as Contel Inc. using a modified Contel logo of with the inclusion of an "Inc." at the end in small print, opened in St. Charles, Illinois. They are also a telecommunications company, but they specialize in in-house engineering and full service furnishing and installation of server rooms for corporations.

Subsidiaries
Subsidiaries of Contel included:
 * Contel of the South (Georgia)
 * Contel of California (including lines in Arizona and Nevada)
 * ConTel of Illinois
 * ConTel of Indiana
 * Contel of Kentucky
 * Contel of Minnesota
 * Contel of Missouri
 * Contel of New Hampshire
 * Contel of New York
 * Contel of North Carolina
 * Contel of the Northwest (Idaho, Oregon and Washington)
 * ConTel of Pennsylvania
 * ConTel Quaker State
 * Contel of South Carolina
 * Contel of Vermont
 * Contel of Virginia
 * Contel of the West (Arizona and Utah)