| “The quest begins…” |
| Autumn, 1980 |
Bill Rogers and his brother Frank are in the home & car audio & video business, called Rogers Stereo, and need three new phone systems for the stores. Frank said, “I know a guy from NY with Southern Bell called ‘Harry the Phone Man.’” |
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Bill calls Harry and signs a five-year ComKey Contract for three phone systems. As he’s signing, he does a quick calculation of 60 times the monthly payment and it was over $10,000. He says to Harry, "We are going into the phone business!" And so the quest begins… |
| Winter, 1981 |
Bill goes to an industry show (USITA) in New Orleans to look for product and meets a man (Larry Meyer) in the Toshiba booth who says, “We have no one in SC; if you can sell one system a month, we will be happy.” To which Bill responds, “If we sell one system a month, we will be out of business!” |
| “Toshiba was pleased. We were ecstatic!” |
| Spring, 1981 |
We incorporated, christened ourselves with the name “TELECO, Inc.,” Harry the Phone Man became our partner and on June 1, 1981, TELECO opened for business on Haywood Road in Greenville, SC. |
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TELECO sells four Toshiba systems a month for a total of 48. All were Strata III systems (the first three-pair system Toshiba introduced). |
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Revenue totals $550,000 in Year One. Toshiba was pleased. We were ecstatic! |
| The climb upward… |
| 1982 |
Bill always had the idea to open branches/dealers and begins soliciting them. |
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Burlington and Wilmington, NC, and Jacksonville, FL, are the first three dealerships. |
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Second year revenue jumps to $950,000. |
| 1983 |
Dealers all over the east and southeast become part of the TELECO dealership program. |
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Revenue goes to $2.3 million. |
| 1984 |
More interconnects added. Revenue hits $3.7 million. |
| 1985 |
We start TELECO USA in Dallas to expand our dealer base nationwide. |
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Revenue reaches $5 million. |
| The awards begin. |
| 1986 |
TELECO, Inc. is awarded number 278 of the Inc Magazine “Inc 500” fastest-growing private companies in the country. |
| 1987 |
We buy American Phone Centers from Comdial Corp. |
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We take over all TELECO USA distribution, which expands us nationwide. |
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We make the “Inc 500” for the second year in a row. |
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Revenue hits $7 million. |
| 1988 |
Charlie Houser, Ellis Elmore, and Frank Robinson buy into TELECO. |
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TELECO buys US Telecenter’s assets. |
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TELECO begins private-labeling Toshiba telecom products. |
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TELECO hosts our first dealer meeting in New Orleans, LA. |
| Expansion in all directions |
| 1989 |
TELECO owners start CTG (Corporate Telemanagement Group), a long distance company, and roll it out to TELECO dealers. |
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Revenue tops $10 million. |
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TELECO ranked #2 interconnect by Teleconnect Magazine. |
| 1991 |
TELECO acquires telecom assets of Lanier Worldwide and adds even more dealers. |
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TELECO ranked #1 interconnect by Teleconnect Magazine with over 150 dealers. |
| 1993 |
TELECO acquires Innovative Technologies Inc. (ITI) voicemail company and rolls out TELECO’s own line of voice processing systems: Perfect Voice. |
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Revenue tops $15 million. |
| 1994 |
TELECO co-develops the first “in-skin” voicemail for Toshiba systems. |
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TELECO becomes OEM provider of voice mail to WIN Communications. |
| 1996 |
TELECO grows to over 250 dealer locations and branch offices. |
| 1998 |
TELECO acquires national account division of TIE Communications and relocates service group to Greenville from Arkansas. |
| The Crest |
| 1999 |
Y2K phenomenon causes phone system and voice mail sales to explode. TELECO reaches $43 million in revenue. |
| Difficult times loom ahead… |
| 2000 |
TELECO posts first and only profit loss in history after sales fall dramatically after the Y2K scare of 1999. |
| 2001 |
TELECO signs up the nation’s second largest home improvement company as a national account customer. |
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TELECO becomes a national distributor for NEC America. |
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The telecommunications industry takes a hit along with much of the nation’s economy post September 11. |
| 2002 |
TELECO signs up The Pep Boys—Manny, Moe, and Jack as a national account customer. |
| 2003 |
TELECO develops “in-skin” voice mail system specifically for WIN Communications. |
| 2005 |
TELECO sells and installs Perfect Voice systems for all Pep Boys stores in the US and Puerto Rico. |
| 2007 |
TELECO becomes a national distributor for IPitomy Communications. |
| The Rally |
| 2008 |
TELECO releases Perfect Communicator®. |
| 2009 |
TELECO becomes a national distributor for Star2Star Communications and launches the first and only product of its kind to hit the world of VoIP business communications. |
| 2011 |
TELECO celebrated 30 years in business on June 1 while still under the same name and ownership. |
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TELECO surpassed 1750 Star2Star lines sold corporately and among all dealers. |
