Pay Tel Communications

Pay-Tel Communications, Inc. was founded by Vincent Townsend in 1986, shortly after the breakup of AT&T. Between 1986 and 1989, Pay-Tel grew to be the largest private payphone company based in North Carolina. In 1989, the private sector introduced "automated collect call technology" and inmate phone service as we know it today was born. In 1989, Pay-Tel Communications coordinated the efforts to win authority for inmate phone service in both North and South Carolina. Pay-Tel surveyed the sheriffs and jail administrators in the Carolinas to secure information on the inmate phone service needs of confinement officers. Vincent Townsend, President of Pay-Tel Communications, testified in hearings before both State Utilities Commissions to present the information gained in the surveys. In 1989, Pay-Tel was awarded the authority to provide inmate phone service in North and South Carolina. Today, Pay-Tel owns and operates inmate phones serving facilities in California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.