About Us

A Brief History of COTC

The beginnings of Central Oklahoma Telephone Co. (COTC) started in 1936 when Richard and Lillie Guest and their son Leroy moved to Davenport to operate the Davenport Telephone Co. They operated the switchboard in the front room of a two-story house located on the same corner where Central Oklahoma Telephone offices are located today.

Davenport Headquarters
COTC's Davenport Headquarters, built in 1965 and expanded in 1982

In 1946, they purchased the system, and in 1953 Leroy "Dutch" Guest returned home to manage the company. The name was changed to Central Oklahoma Telephone Co., and a loan was secured from the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to rebuild and convert to dial service. Over the next few years, the exchanges of Kendrick, Sparks, Agra, and Tryon in Lincoln County and Boley and Castle in Okfuskee County were added.

Commercial Hotel
The two story building was constructed in 1903. It later became the Commercial Hotel. The switchboard for the Davenport community was moved to this building in 1920 and located in the front room of what was originally Hotel Davenport. This photo was taken in 1911 with Mrs. Etta Turner and her two daughters on the left. Mrs. Turner was Governor Roy Turner's mother.

COTC began offering local dial-up Internet service in 1996. High-speed DSL service was added in 1999.

In 2005, COTC began offering telephone and Internet services to Stroud under the name COTC Connections. Beginning in 2011, COTC started placing buried fiber optic cables to serve the Davenport town area. This fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) project was the first of its kind in Lincoln County. COTC also upgraded all central offices from Nortel DMS-10 switchboards to Ribbon C15 softswitches.