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 The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

failed. The company purchased the assets in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, Canada from Bell Canada in 1889. In 1973, NBTel purchased the last independent telephone operator in New Brunswick, giving it a monopoly for telephone service in the province. The N

In 1924, the company built a telephone exchange in

Sackville, New Brunswick Sackville is a town in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. It is home to Mount Allison University, a primarily undergraduate liberal arts university. Historically based on agriculture, shipbuilding, and manufacturing, the economy is now driven ...

. An extension was made in 1961 in order to house more equipment. Two years later, the building was sold to the Maritime Conference of the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

. Owned by holding company Bruncor, which Bell Canada gained a controlling interest in during the 1960s, NBTel was based in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

, until its merger with the other

Stentor Alliance The Stentor Alliance was a formal alliance of Canada's major telecommunications companies, specifically its incumbent local exchange carriers. It derives its name from the Greek mythological figure Stentor. Formed in 1992 to succeed ''Telecom Ca ...

companies in Atlantic Canada to form Aliant in 1999. In 2006, it is now known as

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 ...

Firsts

* NBTel was the first telephone company in Canada to be given

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

approval to provide television services in 1998 and was the first to launch this into service in 1999. * NBTel was the first Canadian telephone company to provide internet service. * In 1993, NBTel became the first telephone company in North America to use a fully digital switching network. * NBTel was the first company to offer all customers voice mail service.

References

Information on NBTel at acssoftware.com

External links

New Brunswick Telephone Company, Limited - Canadian Corporate Reports
Telecommunications companies of Canada Companies based in Saint John, New Brunswick Bell Aliant Canadian companies established in 1888 Telecommunications companies disestablished in 1999 Telecommunications companies established in 1888 {{canada-company-stub