After World War II, rural Vermilion Parish had few options when it came to communications. But the Turnley family changed that when it bought a telephone company in the 1950s.
After serving in the war, Lytle Turnley bought the circa 1916 Kaplan Telephone Company in 1952. Both of Lytle’s parents worked for AT&T in Baton Rouge. At the time, the small business provided service to 407 telephones in Kaplan and 70 farmer-owned lines. Once acquiring the company, Lytle modernized its telephone system, changing from the outdated Magneta switchboard to a common battery “flash” switchboard. This allowed customers to pick up their phones rather than crank them. During this time, subscribership increased to 800.
By 1959, Kaplan Telephone Company had completed telephone service throughout Pecan Island. It also introduced mobile car telephones to Louisiana. “My father always said, ‘I want to be the firstest with the mostest,’” recalls Lytle’s son, Carl Turnley.
When Carl was just 12 years old, Lytle started him in the business. “My father put me in every area – the plant, accounting, customer service,” Carl remembers. “He moved me throughout the company for a few years. I learned literally from the ground up.” Eventually, Carl attained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southwest Louisiana (now University of Louisiana – Lafayette) and an MBA from Louisiana State University. “Carl is really good about finding technological advancements before even bigger companies are,” says Marketing Director Maria Lambert. “He is excellent at being ahead of the game at most things and figuring out the best way to do them.”
During the next 20 years, the business underwent major changes, converting its entire phone system to a digital system in 1979 and adding features such as call waiting, call forwarding and hotlines. In 1990, Kaplan Telephone Company launched PACE Cellular Communications, providing beepers and cellular communications to Vermilion Parish. That same year, the company began burying fiber optic cable – way before larger cities like Lafayette. “We actually started some of it back all the way in 1990, but when we first started doing it to customers’ homes was about 2002,” Carl explains.
After getting his degree at USL, Carl started working full-time with the company in 1997. The next year, Kaplan Telephone Company created Louisiana Competitive Telecommunications, offering telecom services in Abbeville.
Sadly, Lytle passed away in 1999 at age 75, and his two sons, Carl and Toney, assumed the helm.
Like their father, the brothers kept the business’ innovations going, with Carl serving as president of Louisiana Competitive Telecommunications and Toney of Kaplan Telephone Company, and both later rebranded together as Kaptel.
The following year, Kaptel installed a revolutionary wireless broadband system responsible for voice, internet and digital TV transmission to local schools in Abbeville. “This was the first roll-out of this new technology in the United States,” Carl states proudly.
In 2001, the growing business completed Acadiana’s first fiber optic build-out to serve Abbeville’s business district. Two years later, Kaptel implemented digital cable TV throughout the Kaplan area and began engineering the first fiber-to-the-home deployment in Vermilion Parish. Kaptel followed in 2004 with fixed wireless internet access to customers in Vermilion Parish. The next year, Kaptel rolled out GSM and introduced Fiber-to-the-Home in Kaplan. In 2009, they launched Security & Alarm Monitoring Services.
Over the next decade, Kaptel grew exponentially, opening a new Kaplan location with two drive-through lanes and 4G LTE wireless equipment in 2011; upgrading with a Next Generation IP switch in 2012; becoming a Global Telecom Provider in 2013; updating fiber and wireless broadband equipment in 2014; offering EXPRESS Delivery and Phone Repair Services for Cellular services in 2015 and expanding broadband service throughout Acadiana in 2016. In 2017, Kaptel acquired local interconnect company, ATC.
Last year, KAPTEL launched its own streaming app, KaptelTV, allowing customers to watch local TV channels, movies, sports and other programs on their smart TVs, iPads and Cellphones. “Instead of customers having to get Hulu, Netflix and other add-ons, our app basically functions like cable,” Lambert explains. “But, we also offer local channels along with other channels. So people don’t have to get traditional cable anymore.” The bottom line – customers can save money with Kaptel. “We are very competitive and, in some cases, cheaper than the bigger companies,” Lambert shares. “For everything, we’re competitive.”
But Kaptel is not just for consumers. The versatile provider also handles the phone systems for law enforcement, local and federal government, and schools. In Lafayette, the company provides services to business customers, and security and alarm and wireless service to residential customers. Throughout Acadiana, Kaptel offers business phones and security systems, but its service area expands throughout the Gulf Coast. “People don’t realize how much we actually do,” Lambert reveals. “We’re a lot bigger than people think we are.”
Because of its cutting-edge technology and personalized customer service, Kaptel has garnered several awards, including the Louisiana Economic Development Council’s Acadiana Honors Award for excellence in business practices, the Vermilion Chamber of Commerce’s Forward Vermilion Award and the Louisiana Economic Development Lantern Award, recognizing excellence in innovation. Kaptel is also recognized as a Smart Rural Provider by The Rural Broadband Association – a first for a Louisiana Company.
From its humble beginnings, Kaptel has grown to roughly 150 employees, and serves the entire state of Louisiana. Currently, the company services around 25,000 residential and business customers.
For the future, Kaptel is expanding its fiber network in new areas within Vermilion Parish. “That’s been the primary goal we’ve been focused on the last couple of years,” Carl confirms.
What differentiates Kaptel from larger telephone service providers? “We actually answer the phone when the customer calls,” Carl proclaims. Adds Lambert, “With other large cable providers, I have spent six hours and three different phone calls trying to get them to fix my problems. We live in this era where a lot is automated, and it’s really frustrating to sit there forever. One of the biggest pros that we have always had as a company is that we try to make customer service a priority. When you call us, 9 times out of 10 you’re going to get a person – and if you don’t right away, you’re going to get them pretty soon. You’re going to speak to a person who is going to try and deal with whatever is going on immediately. We have 24/7 customer service and a chat option.” For more information about Kaptel, call (337) 643-7171 or visit www.kaptel.net.