Baca Valley Telephone

Baca Valley Telephone Company, Inc., headquartered in Des Moines, New Mexico, was founded by Paul J. Briesh, Sr. who began his career in the telephone industry with Western States Telephone Company in 1962. In 1973, Paul started negotiations with Mountain Bell to acquire the Laughlin Telephone Cooperative, located in Capulin, New Mexico. The Co-op consisted of forty-five subscribers, a Magneto Switch, and nearly 100 miles of open wire. The purchase was finalized and the new company was incorporated under the name of Baca Valley Telephone Company, Inc. on February 4, 1974. In 1975, Paul negotiated the purchase of the Mountain Bell Central Office Switch in Des Moines, New Mexico. The sale was approved and the Briesh family moved from Arizona to Des Moines. During the next three years, the Briesh family spent many hours maintaining the old switches and lines while working to obtain an REA loan. Their goal was to expand the company's customer base in northeastern New Mexico. The Briesh boys drove to Utah and tore down ten miles of aerial cable. They rolled it onto empty reels, drove back to Des Moines and then re-hung it on an existing open-wire toll line from Des Moines to Capulin. With this cable installed, Capulin and Des Moines residents were able to enjoy two or four party dial service. Paul Sr. died suddenly of a heart attack on August 7, 1979. With the help of their friends and the assistance of the telephone engineers and employees who had worked for Paul Sr., the Briesh family managed to keep the company together. The REA loan was approved in November, 1979, and that fall Baca Valley Telephone Company purchased Maxwell Telephone Company. With the REA loan in hand, the company proceeded with the building of a new headquarters facility, burying hundreds of miles of cable and installing two new switches in Des Moines and Maxwell. Today, Baca Valley Telephone Company has a service area covering more than 2,600 square miles. In addition to residential service in the Des Moines and Maxwell exchanges, we provide cellular service, local Internet access, business telephone systems, security systems, two-way radios, NOC (Network Operations Center) services, and network cabling throughout northeastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado.