A little telephone company in South Georgia crosses borders

ALMA, GA. | A sign in the window at Alma Telephone Co. doesn’t tell the whole truth: Neighbors serving neighbors for 75 years.

And indeed the phone company has been in business that long, but its service area now extends well past it neighbors in Bacon County where it ran phone lines to banks, restaurants and blueberry farmers, among others. A company offshoot, ATC Broadband, has underground fiber-optic lines running all the way to St. Simons Island, Vidalia and St. Marys.

Lawyer Teddy Solomon has been running the company since 1997 when owner Jack Bennett passed away, leaving his family…