The Island Telephone Company Limited (IslandTel) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

telephone service provider located in the province of

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

, Canada. It operated from 1929 to 1999, when merged into

Bell Aliant Bell Aliant is a brand name used by Bell Canada for Telecommunications in Canada, telecommunications services in Atlantic Canada. Prior to 2015, Bell Aliant Inc. (formerly Aliant Inc.) was a separate company providing telecom services in the Atl ...

History

IslandTel traces its history to The Telephone Company of Prince Edward Island which was founded in 1885. This company was one of several dozen private independent companies operating in fixed geographic areas in the province. This particular company was largely focused on the

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

area.

20th century

In 1910

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

-based

Maritime Telephone and Telegraph Company The Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company (MT&T, later MTT) was founded around 1910 in Halifax, Nova Scotia and provided telecommunications to Nova Scotia until 1998 when it merged with the Island Telephone Company, NBTel, and NewTel Communica ...

(MT&T) laid a submarine telephone cable from

Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island Wood Islands is a rural farming and fishing community located in southeastern Queens County, Prince Edward Island on the Northumberland Strait. It takes its name from several small forested islands, then located several hundred metres offshore in ...

, to

Pictou, Nova Scotia Pictou ( ; Canadian Gaelic: ''Baile Phiogto'') is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km (6 miles) north of the larger town of New Glasg ...

; it entered service on January 1, 1911. The Telephone Company of Prince Edward Island suffered severe financial hardship as a result of a fire on September 5, 1911, that destroyed a newly installed switchboard and caused heavy damage to its central office and headquarters in Charlottetown. By December 1, 1911, a controlling interest in the company was bought by MT&T, thus establishing a partnership of shared telephone communication with Nova Scotia that endures to this day (see

Area codes 902 and 782 Area codes 902 and 782 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Area code 902 was one of the original North American area codes established in October 1 ...

). The company was renamed The Island Telephone Company Limited under a law passed by the

Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island (french: Assemblée législative de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard) is the sole chamber of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island. The Legislative Assembly meets at Province House, which is locate ...

on April 29, 1929. The Island Telephone Company Ltd gradually grew through acquisitions of smaller competitors. In 1932, there were 45 privately owned telephone companies in Prince Edward Island. The last independent telephone company merged with The Island Telephone Company Ltd on May 29, 1974, with the purchase of the South New Glasgow Rural Telephone Company. In the 1980s, the company branded itself as IslandTel. In 1998, the company was renamed Island Telecom Inc. to reflect the growing diversity of its business areas.

Merger

In 1999 the shareholders of Island Telecom Inc voted to merge with the other Stentor Alliance companies in Atlantic Canada (

NBTel NBTel was founded as the New Brunswick Telephone Company in 1888 after Bell Telephone Company of Canada's attempt to establish telephone service in the Maritimes failed. The company purchased the assets in New Brunswick, Canada from Bell Canada i ...

, MT&T, and

NewTel Communications NewTel Communications was a telephone and internet service provider in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Originally known as the Avalon Telephone Company, it served the Avalon Peninsula and later became the Newfoundland Telepho ...

) to form Aliant Telecom Inc. / Télécommunications Aliant Inc. The new company is named

References

{{Reflist Defunct telecommunications companies of Canada Bell Aliant Companies based in Charlottetown Companies based in Prince Edward Island Telecommunications companies established in 1885 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 1999 1885 establishments in Canada 1999 establishments in Prince Edward Island Canadian companies established in 1999 Canadian companies established in 1885

History

20th century

Merger

See also

References