New phone company set to take over GTE service

A newly formed phone company based in Newton will take over local service in 278 Iowa communities. Craig Hamilton is a spokesman for Iowa Telecom. which has reached an agreement to purchase the Iowa assetts of G-T-E. Hamilton says there will also be some changes for G-T-E employess in Iowa, as around 385 will become Iowa Telecom employees.Hamilton says they expect to get regulatory approval in March. The company will serve some 500-thousand customers statewide. Some of the cities included in the deal are: Newton, Manchester, Grinnell, Fairfield, Pella, Knoxville, Harlan.