Overview
Cellular South, an industry pioneer in the wireless industry, has expanded in tandem with the astonishing growth of the wireless industry. The company has led the industry with innovative voice and data services, and a commitment to providing the same advanced wireless services in rural areas that are available in metropolitan areas.
It all began in the late 1940s, when the family of Wade H. Creekmore, Sr., entered the telephone business with a purchase of a small telephone company in Calhoun County, Mississippi.
According to one of Cellular South's shareholders, some people living in those areas already had telephones but most did not. The ones that did not were most interesting when their phone was installed for the first time.
"We would explain to them how to use the telephone, and some of them would dial the number and then pick up the receiver, thinking that that was the way to do it. But when they first got those telephones and they were able to call their family members across the country from their own homes, it was very meaningful to them."
Now, Telapex, Inc., the parent company of Cellular South, has several subsidiaries, including Cellular South, Franklin Telephone Company, Delta Telephone Company, Branch Cable, and Telapak Networks.
"Their goal over the years has been to provide to those rural areas that they serve the same quality telephone service that's available in the urban areas of our nation."
For many years, telephone service was limited by fixed lines and cables. In those early days, it would have been hard to envision that from Telapex's humble beginnings, one of their future companies, Cellular South, would grow to be one of the largest privately-held wireless company in the nation, using the latest in communications technology.
In the early 1960s, the Creekmore's business consisted primarily of rural telephone exchanges in several Mississippi counties, a fact that would ultimately prove crucial in establishing a business presence that would give the company access to lotteries for cellular licenses.
Less than five years after the FCC began awarding licenses in the wireless industry, Cellular South had acquired several licenses and was positioned to implement the new wireless technology.
The company introduced wireless service in its first market, the Mississippi Gulf Coast, on February 4, 1988, with Ole Miss football legend Archie Manning making the inaugural call to then-U.S. Representative, Trent Lott, in Washington.
The first call...
"Congressman Lott's office."
"Yes, this is Archie Manning calling for Congressman Lott, please."
"Hey, Archie."
"Trent, how you doin'?"
"All right. Good to talk to you."
"Well, I'm glad to talk to you. I think you..."
"Sorry I didn't see you at homecoming last year."
"No, I didn't...I was involved with the Saints last year, and didn't make it to homecoming."
And with that call, Cellular South was launched.
"We didn't even come close to realizing the potential in the early stages until after we turned on the first system on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. For all we knew, we might get four or five hundred customers, and that would be the end of it; the end of the growth. But it soon became apparent that cellular telephone service was going to be a very popular thing."
The company shareholders including, Hu Meena, now company president, steered Cellular South through the unprecedented wireless growth of the late ‘90s, operating under the original vision of providing the best service in the region through an intense focus on customer satisfaction and service to their communities.
With these values firmly in place, Cellular South has experienced steady growth year after year since 1988. Cellular South currently operates approximately 75 retail outlets in Mississippi, Southwest Tennessee, Coastal Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle to Destin. Four call centers are based in Mississippi, an online store and answer center at cellularsouth.com, and a centralized service and repair center.
Company Milestones
- Founded in 1988 on the Mississippi Gulf Coast
- One of the largest privately held wireless providers in the nation
- Launched digital network in 1999
- Expanded footprint to Coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle to Destin in 2000
- Again expanded footprint to Southwest Tennessee, including Memphis, in 2001
- Upgraded entire network to CDMA 1x in 2001
- For many, Cellular South was the first and only means of communication during and immediately following Hurricane Katrina
- Launched EvDO high-speed wireless broadband to parts of its region in 2006
- Opened new Technical Operations Center in downtown Jackson in 2007
- Constructed new corporate headquarters to Ridgeland, MS in 2007
- First wireless carrier to launched Obopay data service and WirelessWallet consumer m-commerce trial in 2007.
- Celebrating 20th Anniversary in February 2008
