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63-589: On April 3, 2006, Verizon Communications announced it had agreed to sell its stakes in Telecomunicaciones de Puerto Rico, Inc. (TELPRI) and their sole ownership of the main Dominican telephone company Verizon Dominicana , now Claro República Dominicana , to América Móvil of Mexico. On December 31, 2006, Verizon and América Móvil completed Verizon Dominicana ownership transfer into Mexican hands. After another three months and various litigations upon

126-533: A Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC), commonly referred to as "Baby Bells." The company was originally headquartered in Philadelphia and operated in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. In 1997, Bell Atlantic expanded into New York and the New England states by merging with fellow Baby Bell NYNEX . While Bell Atlantic was the surviving company,

189-488: A fleet telematics system company in Dublin, Ireland , for $ 2.4 billion, to build products that it offers to enterprises for logistics and mobile workforces. On September 12, 2016, Verizon announced its acquisition of Sensity, a startup for LED sensors , in an effort to bolster its IoT portfolio. A few months later, Verizon acquired mapping startup SocialRadar, whose technology would be integrated with MapQuest . Verizon

252-583: A $ 50 billion lawsuit was filed by two lawyers on behalf of all Verizon subscribers for privacy violations and to prevent the company from releasing additional records without consent or warrant. Protesters staged the National Day of Out(R)age due in part to the controversy. In 2007, Verizon stated that it fulfilled only "lawful demands" for information, but also acknowledged surrendering customer information to government agencies without court orders or warrants 720 times between 2005 and 2007. Verizon won

315-404: A 2G and 3G CDMA roaming agreement with Open Mobile , where Verizon customers can use its network without charge. Later on, Verizon has also signed another agreement with Claro to also allow customers to use their LTE Network. More than 400,000 television service subscribers. Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( / v ə ˈ r aɪ z ən / və- RY -zən ),

378-774: A Canadian carrier, until Verizon completely divested itself of its shares in 2004. In the Caribbean, CONTEL purchased several major stakes in the newly independent countries of the British West Indies (namely in Barbados , Jamaica , and Trinidad and Tobago ). Prior to GTE's merger with Bell Atlantic, GTE also maintained an interactive television service joint-venture called GTE mainStreet (sometimes also called mainStreet USA) as well as an interactive entertainment and video game publishing operation, GTE Interactive Media . In 1934, General Telephone Corporation

441-544: A deal in April 2017 whereby Verizon would purchase 12.4   million   miles of optical fiber per year from Corning from 2018 through 2020. Months later, Verizon purchased WideOpenWest 's fiber-optic assets in the Chicago market for $ 225   million. Also in 2017, Verizon was sued by New York City for violating its cable franchise agreement, which required the provider to pass a fiberoptic network to all households in

504-477: A lawsuit against Vonage for patent infringement in March 2007. The three patents named were filed by Bell Atlantic in 1997, and relate to the conversion of IP addresses into phone numbers, a key technology of Vonage's business. The company was awarded US$ 58 million in damages and future royalties. Vonage later lost an appeal and was ordered to pay Verizon $ 120 million. In May 2007, Verizon acquired CyberTrust ,

567-456: A new division named Oath Inc., which was rebranded as Verizon Media in January 2019, and was spun off and rebranded to Yahoo! Inc. after its sale to Apollo Global Management . As of 2016 , Verizon is one of three remaining companies with roots in the former Baby Bells. The other two, like Verizon, exist as a result of mergers among fellow former Baby Bell members. SBC Communications bought

630-613: A new division to serve the company's business and government customers. The FCC approved the deal on October 31, 2005, valuing it at $ 8.5 billion. Verizon's 2006 revenues rose by as much as 20% following the purchase. USA Today reported in May 2006 that Verizon, as well as AT&T and BellSouth , had given the National Security Agency landline phone records following the September 11 attacks . That same month,

693-890: A part of the index since the Great Depression . Verizon launched its Fios Internet service, which transmits data over fiber optic cables, in Keller, Texas , in 2004. The company launched Fios TV in September 2005, also in Keller. Twenty percent of qualified homes had signed up by the end of 2004. By January 2006, Fios offered over 350 channels in seven states, including 20 high-definition television channels and video on demand . Mail servers at Verizon.net were configured in December 2004 to not accept connections from Europe by default in an attempt to reduce spam email that

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756-497: A possible buyout. Charter reportedly rejected the deal around the end of May 2017, citing that the offer was too low for them to accept, and its largest shareholder Liberty Media stated that they were not ready to sell. Verizon added to its fiber-optic network and 5G capabilities in February 2017 when it closed its $ 1.8 billion acquisition of XO Communications ' fiber-optic network business. Verizon and Corning Inc. announced

819-489: A privately held provider of global information security services. In September 2007, Verizon Wireless reversed a controversial decision to deny NARAL Pro-Choice America a short code through which the organization could text consumers who had signed up for messaging from the group. The company had initially refused the group access to a code by reserving the right to block "controversial or unsavory" messages. Verizon opened its networks to third party apps and devices for

882-457: A profit of $ 32.5 billion. The same report also criticized Verizon for increasing executive pay by 167% in 2010 for its top five executives while laying off 21,308 workers between 2008 and 2010. However, in its Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 24, 2012, Verizon reported having paid more than $ 11.1 billion in taxes (including income, employment and property taxes) from 2009 to 2011. In addition,

945-479: A project to create satellite stations. A few years later, the company's international branch was replaced by a GTE products company in 1976. Their products company remained until 1979. In 1979, GTE purchased Telenet to establish a presence in the growing packet switching data communications business. GTE Telenet was later included in the US Telecom joint venture. In December 1983 Vanderslice stepped down as

1008-723: A report detailing the problems that led to the failure in January 2013. Verizon reported that it had already addressed or was addressing a number of the issues related to the FCC report, including the causes of generator failures, conducting audits of backup systems, and making its monitoring systems less centralized, although the FCC indicated that Verizon still needed to make additional improvements. The FCC ruled that Verizon must stop charging users an added fee for using 4G smartphones and tablets as Wi-Fi hotspots (known as " tethering "). Verizon had been charging its customers, even those with "unlimited" plans, $ 20 per month for tethering. As part of

1071-632: A subsidiary, named the General Telephone and Electric Corporation, formed in 1930 with the Transamerica Corporation and British investors to compete against ITT. In 1959, Sylvania Electric Products merged into General Telephone and was renamed to General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (GT&E). Power also obtained the purchases of multiple companies. such as Lenkurt Electric Company, Inc and Peninsular Telephone Company. In 1960, GT&E International Incorporated

1134-509: A three-year continuous expansion of the 4G service. Verizon acquired Terremark , an information technology services company, for $ 1.4 billion in early 2011. Ivan Seidenberg retired as Verizon's CEO on August 1, 2011, and was succeeded by Lowell McAdam . In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Verizon for its tax avoidance procedures after it spent $ 52.34 million on lobbying while collecting $ 951 million in tax rebates between 2008 and 2010 and making

1197-602: Is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City . It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the United States , with 114.2 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024. The company was formed in 1984 as Bell Atlantic as a result of the breakup of the Bell System into seven companies, each

1260-546: Is the 100% owner of the company and has rebranded the wireless arm of the company -formerly Verizon Wireless - under their international Claro brand. As of February 2011, America Móvil has rebranded its wireline (fixed line), broadband DSL, television and dial-up services as Claro. The only services that, for now, remain branded as Claro - Puerto Rico Telephone are business, government or corporate. Effective March 2013, all Claro Puerto Rico have been rebranded. Services to business, government and enterprises are now offered under

1323-788: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and approved by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that required Verizon to provide the National Security Agency (NSA) with telephone metadata for all calls originating in the U.S. Verizon Wireless was not part of the NSA data collection for wireless accounts due to foreign ownership issues. Verizon purchased Vodafone's 45% stake in Verizon in September 2013 for $ 130 billion. The deal closed on February 21, 2014, and became

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1386-622: The Federal Communications Commission , which had advised from the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Board, on March 30, 2007, TELPRI assets were completely acquired by América Móvil. The purchase was closed after an agreement to purchase from Popular, Inc. , the government of Puerto Rico and the telephone company employee stock ownership program, the remaining stocks of TELPRI at the same price as Verizon . Currently, América Móvil

1449-601: The 2012 settlement, Verizon made a voluntary payment of $ 1.25 million to the U.S. Treasury . In August 2012, the Department of Justice approved Verizon's purchase of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum from a consortium of cable companies, including Comcast , Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks , for $ 3.9 billion. Verizon began expanding its LTE network utilizing these extra airwaves in October 2013. The Guardian reported it had obtained an order by

1512-859: The Bells' former parent AT&T Corporation and took on the AT&;T name, and CenturyLink acquired Qwest (formerly US West ) in 2011 and later became Lumen Technologies in 2020. In 1983, the US Department of Justice came to a settlement with AT&T Corporation to breakup the Bell System. Bell Atlantic Corporation was created as one of the original " Baby Bell " Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) in 1984. Bell Atlantic's original roster of operating companies included: In 1996, CEO and Chairman Raymond W. Smith orchestrated Bell Atlantic's merger with NYNEX . When it merged, it moved its corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to New York City. NYNEX

1575-539: The Claro Empresas brand. Until 2014, Claro continued to offer a CDMA network for Verizon Wireless customers as well as legacy Claro customers. The CDMA network appeared as "Extended Network" coverage on Verizon - meaning the majority of Verizon customers were able use it at no extra charge. Prepaid providers like Page Plus Cellular however had to pay roaming in Puerto Rico. Data access for Verizon customers

1638-802: The FCC's net neutrality rules and the FCC's determination that broadband access is a public utility rather than a luxury. AT&T and the telecom industry said they would seek to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court . The Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon received more than 1,000 requests for information about its subscribers on national security grounds via National Security Letters . In total, Verizon received 321,545 requests from federal, state and local law enforcement for U.S. customer information. In May 2015, Verizon agreed to pay $ 90 million "to settle federal and state investigations into allegations mobile customers were improperly billed for premium text messages." Verizon Wireless launched

1701-542: The Internet speed of the time to 144 kb per second. In August 2002, Verizon began offering local, long-distance and mobile calling, as well as Internet service, in a bundle . It was initially only available to customers in New York and Massachusetts. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added Verizon Communications to its stock market index in April 2004. Verizon replaced telecom competitor AT&T, which had been

1764-399: The city by June 30, 2014. Verizon disputed the claims, citing landlords not granting permission to install the equipment on their properties, and an understanding with the government that the fiber network would follow the same routes as its copper lines, and did not necessarily mean it would have to pass the lines in front of every property. Verizon Connect was created in 2018, combining

1827-673: The company reported in the 10-K that most of the drop in employment since 2008 was due to a voluntary retirement offer. Verizon purchased Hughes Telematics, a producer of wireless features for automobiles , for $ 612 million in June 2012 as part of its strategy to expand into new growth areas in its wireless business. The same month, Verizon's E-911 service failed in the aftermath of the June 2012 derecho storm in several northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., with some problems lasting several days. The FCC conducted an investigation and released

1890-696: The company spun off wirelines in Arizona , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Michigan , Nevada , North Carolina , Ohio , Oregon , South Carolina , Washington , West Virginia , and Wisconsin into a company that then merged with Frontier Communications in a deal valued at $ 8.6 billion. It sold its interests in telecommunications providers in the Dominican Republic (Verizon Dominicana, previously CODETEL ), Puerto Rico and Venezuela to América Móvil . A decade later, it would continue moves to invest in wireless. In 2015, American Tower Corp. acquired

1953-513: The company's headquarters in New York City, the company relocated to Stamford, Connecticut for their new headquarters. In 1971 GT&E undertook an identity change and became simply GTE, while Sylvania Electric Products became GTE Sylvania. The same year, Donald C. Power retired and Leslie H. Warner became chairman of the board. Theodore F. Brophy was brought in as president. In 1974, GTE worked with American Telephone & Telegraph in

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2016-410: The company's initial $ 6.75 billion offer in February but then received a higher offer from Qwest Communications . Verizon increased its bid to $ 7.6   billion, which MCI accepted on March 29, 2005. The acquisition gave the company access to MCI's million corporate clients and international holdings, expanding Verizon's presence into global markets. As a result, Verizon Business was established as

2079-456: The company's initial public offering (IPO) (the IPO was ultimately cancelled in 2003 because the company no longer needed to raise revenue for Verizon Wireless due to increased profits), and created a backlog of repairs. This strike did not involve all company employees, as most line technicians and user technicians of the company are in a union. Verizon launched 3G service in 2002, which doubled

2142-409: The company's president and chief operating officer. In April 1988, after the retirement of Theodore F. Brophy, James L. "Rocky" Johnson was promoted from his position as president and chief operating officer to CEO of GTE; he was appointed chairman in 1991. Under Johnson's leadership, GTE divested its 50% ownership of US Sprint , the nation's third largest long-distance company. He also orchestrated

2205-527: The company's satellite provider, Spacenet , to General Electric and Contel of Maine to Oxford Networks , which placed the company into a newly created subsidiary, Oxford West Telephone . Bell Atlantic merged with GTE on June 30, 2000, and named the new entity Verizon Communications . The GTE operating companies retained by Verizon are now collectively known as Verizon West division of Verizon (including east coast service territories). The remaining smaller operating companies were sold off or transferred into

2268-428: The company's top priority was to restore service to customers as quickly as possible, and that VoiceLink was a means of doing so in the event that larger repairs had to be done to the infrastructure. The spokesperson stated that it was "hard to argue with disciplining someone who intentionally leaves a customer without service". Verizon was reported to be in talks with Charter Communications in January 2017 to discuss

2331-424: The copper lines. VoiceLink has limitations, including incompatibility with services or devices that require the transmission of data over the telephone line, and a dependency on battery backup in case of power failure. The memo warned that technicians who do not follow this procedure would be subject to "disciplinary action up to and including dismissal". A Verizon spokesperson responded to the allegations, stating that

2394-683: The earliest Internet service providers, in 1997. That division became known as GTE Internetworking, and was later spun off into the independent company Genuity (a name recycled from another Internet company GTE acquired in 1997) to satisfy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements regarding the GTE–Bell Atlantic merger that created Verizon. GTE operated in Canada via large interests in subsidiary companies such as BC Tel and Quebec-Téléphone . When foreign ownership restrictions on telecommunications companies were introduced, GTE's ownership

2457-455: The end of the decade, ten million GT&E phones were active. In the late 1960s, GT&E joined in the search for a railroad car Automatic Car Identification system. It designed the KarTrak optical system, which won over other manufacturer's systems in field trials, but ultimately proved to need too much maintenance. In the late 1970s the system was abandoned. After a 1970 bomb attack to

2520-571: The exclusive right to lease, acquire or otherwise operate and manage many of Verizon's wireless towers for an upfront payment of $ 5.1 billion, which also included payment for the sale of approximately 165 towers. Verizon used the funds from this sale to support a $ 10.4 billion purchase of AWS-3 spectrum licenses at an FCC auction. In 2016, Verizon sold its wireline operations in Texas, Florida, and California to Frontier. Verizon began negotiations in 2005 to purchase long-distance carrier MCI , who accepted

2583-821: The first time in 2007, a decision that allowed it to participate in the FCC's 2008 700 MHz auction of "open access" spectrum . During that auction, the company bid $ 9.4 billion and won the bulk of national and local licenses for airwaves reaching approximately 469 million people. Verizon utilized the increased spectrum for its 4G service. Verizon acquired Rural Cellular Corp. for $ 2.7 billion in cash and assumed debt in 2008. That summer, Verizon announced it would purchase wireless carrier Alltel for $ 28.1 billion. The acquisition included 13 million customers, which allowed Verizon Wireless to surpass AT&T in number of customers and reach new markets in rural areas. 4chan began receiving reports on February 4, 2010, from Verizon Wireless customers that were having difficulties accessing

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2646-507: The first voice, video, and data services community in Cerritos, California to test home banking, at-home shopping, home security, and pay-per-view television in 16,000 homes and 2,000 businesses. In April 1992, James L. "Rocky" Johnson retired after 43 years at GTE, remaining on the GTE board of directors as chairman emeritus. Charles "Chuck" Lee was named to succeed Johnson. In 1994, Lee sold

2709-1028: The individual Telematics, Fleetmatics, and Telogis units. On December 10, 2018, Verizon announced that 10,400 managers had agreed to leave the company as part of a "voluntary separation program" offered to 44,000 employees, resulting in a cut of around 7% of its workforce. At the same time, the company announced a $ 4.6 billion write-off on its media division, citing "increased competitive and market pressures throughout 2018 that have resulted in lower-than-expected revenues and earning." Verizon underwent structural and organizational changes from 2018 to 2019. Hans Vestberg succeeded Lowell McAdam as CEO on August 1, 2018. Vestberg's strategy focused on Verizon's 5G technology. In early 2019, Verizon reorganized itself into three new divisions—Consumer, Business and Media. Verizon began offering anti-spam and robocalling features free of charge to all customers beginning in March 2019. GTE GTE Corporation , formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982),

2772-631: The merged company moved its headquarters from Philadelphia to NYNEX's old headquarters in New York City. In 2000, Bell Atlantic acquired GTE , which operated telecommunications companies across most of the rest of the country not already in Bell Atlantic's footprint. Bell Atlantic, the surviving entity, changed its name to Verizon, a portmanteau of veritas (Latin for "truth") and horizon . In 2015, Verizon expanded into content ownership by acquiring AOL , and two years later, it acquired Yahoo! Inc. AOL and Yahoo were amalgamated into

2835-846: The remaining ones. Additional properties were sold off within a few years after the merger to CenturyTel , Alltel , and Hawaiian Telcom . On July 1, 2010, Verizon sold many former GTE properties to Frontier Communications . Other GTE territories in California, Florida, and Texas were sold to Frontier in 2015 and transferred in 2016, thus ending Verizon's landline operations outside of the historic Bell Atlantic footprint. Verizon still operates phone service in non-Bell System areas in Pennsylvania under Verizon North , and in non-Bell System areas in Virginia and Knotts Island, North Carolina under Verizon South . In September 2024, Verizon announced

2898-535: The sale of Sylvania and the merger with Contel, creating the 2nd largest telephone company in the United States. In 1989, GTE reorganized into six operating groups, focusing on its core businesses of telephone operations, information services, and publishing of telephone directories. With previous job cuts and announced future job cuts, Johnson was able to return GTE to profitability. Other new services provided under his leadership were GTE Mobilenet cellular telephone operations, Airfone air-to-ground telephone services, and

2961-409: The site's image boards. Administrators of the site found that only traffic on port 80 to the boards.4chan.org domain was affected, leading them to believe the block was intentional. On February 7, 2010, Verizon Wireless confirmed that 4chan.org was "explicitly blocked" after Verizon's security and external experts detected sweep attacks coming from an IP address associated with the 4chan network. Traffic

3024-550: The technology news website SugarString in October 2014. The publication attracted controversy after it was reported that its writers were forbidden from publishing articles related to net neutrality or domestic surveillance . Although Verizon denied that this was the case, the site (described as being a pilot project) was shuttered in December. In August 2015, Verizon launched Hum , a service and device offering vehicle diagnostic and monitoring tools for vehicles. On August 1, 2016, Verizon announced its acquisition of Fleetmatics ,

3087-596: The third largest corporate deal ever signed, giving Verizon Communications sole ownership of Verizon Wireless. On January 14, 2014, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC's net neutrality rules after Verizon filed suit against them in January 2010. In June 2016, in a 184-page ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld, by a 2–1 vote,

3150-652: The time. Bell Atlantic changed its name to Verizon Communications in June 2000, when the FCC approved the US$ 64.7 billion merger with telephone company GTE, nearly two years after the deal was proposed in July 1998. The merger was announced on April 4. The name Verizon derives from the combination of the words veritas , Latin for truth, and horizon . The approval came with 25 stipulations to preserve competition between local phone carriers, including investing in new markets and broadband technologies. The new entity

3213-453: The venture. Vodafone retained 45% of the company. The deal was valued at approximately $ 70 billion and created a mobile carrier with 23 million customers. Verizon Wireless merged Bell Atlantic's wireless network, Vodafone's AirTouch and PrimeCo holdings, and the wireless division of GTE. Due to its size, Verizon Wireless was able to offer national coverage at competitive rates, giving it an advantage over regional providers typical of

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3276-408: Was grandfathered . When BC Tel merged with Telus (the name given to the privatized Alberta Government Telephones (AGT)) to create BCT.Telus , GTE's Canadian subsidiaries were merged into the new parent, making it the second-largest telecommunications carrier in Canada. As such, GTE's successor, Verizon Communications, was the only foreign telecommunications company with a greater than 20% interest in

3339-498: Was accused by Communications Workers of America of deliberately refusing to maintain its copper telephone service in 2016. The organization released internal memos and other documents stating that Verizon workers in Pennsylvania were being instructed to, in areas with network problems, migrate voice-only customers to VoiceLink, a system that delivers telephone service over the Verizon Wireless network, instead of repairing

3402-575: Was at full speed. However, Claro deployed EV-DO before launching its GSM/UMTS network. As a result, Claro had the slowest CDMA coverage on Verizon Wireless at sub-3G 1xRTT speeds, peaking at 144-230 kbit/speed. Roaming customers would not access the EV-DO local network. Data, like voice, was Extended Network coverage which had per-KB roaming charges on some older plans. As of 2014, the former Verizon CDMA network has been shut down with Claro now using GSM, UMTS, and LTE exclusively. Verizon has since signed

3465-480: Was consolidated into the Bell Atlantic name by 1997. Two months before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gave final approval on the formation of Verizon Communications, Bell Atlantic formed Verizon Wireless in a joint venture with the British telecommunications company Vodafone in April 2000. The companies established Verizon Wireless as its own business operated by Bell Atlantic, which owned 55% of

3528-424: Was created as a branch company. Power was named C.E.O. and chairman in 1961, making way for Leslie H. Warner, formerly of Theodore Gary, to become president. Simultaneously, GT&E went on to buy Community Antenna Television providers. In 1964, Western Utilities Corporation became part of GT&E. Additional purchases during the 1960s included Hawaiian Telephone Company and Northern Ohio Telephone Company. At

3591-453: Was established with John Winn as president. The following year, the company created General Telephone Directory Company as a division. During World War II, General Telephone helped install phone service for military facilities. From 1946 to 1950, General Telephone obtained over 100,000 telephone lines and bought out Leich Electric Company. General Telephone's holdings included 15 telephone companies across 20 states by 1951, when Donald C. Power

3654-702: Was headed by co-CEOs Charles Lee, former CEO of GTE , and Bell Atlantic CEO Ivan Seidenberg . Verizon became the largest local telephone company in the United States, operating 63 million telephone lines in 40 states. The company also inherited 25 million mobile phone customers. Additionally, Verizon offered internet services and long-distance calling in New York, before expanding long-distance operations to other states. Approximately 85,000 Verizon workers went on an 18-day labor strike in August 2000 after their union contracts expired. The strike affected quarterly revenues, resulting in Verizon Wireless' postponement of

3717-430: Was named president of the company under chairman and long-time GT executive Morris F. LaCroix, replacing the retiring Harold Bozell (president 1940 – 1951). Power proceeded to expand the company through the 1950s principally through two acquisitions. In 1955, Theodore Gary & Company became a part of General Telephone and allowed the company to hold over 2 million telephone lines after the companies merged. It also had

3780-844: Was originating from the region. Individual domains would only be unblocked upon request. The move was criticized by its customers for disrupting their communications without notice, causing them to initiate a class-action lawsuit. Verizon proposed a settlement in April 2006. Beginning in 2005, Verizon reinforced its focus on its mobile phone, Internet, and TV businesses by selling a number of its U.S.-based wireline-focused businesses and international assets. It sold 700,000 lines in Hawaii in 2005, and spun off lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in January 2007, which were then purchased by FairPoint Communications for $ 2.72 billion. Verizon also shed its telephone directory business in 2006. In May 2009,

3843-589: Was reorganized as General Telephone in 1934. In 1991, it acquired the third largest independent, Continental Telephone (ConTel). It owned Automatic Electric , a telephone equipment supplier similar in many ways to Western Electric , and Sylvania Lighting , the only non-communications-oriented company under GTE ownership. GTE provided local telephone service to many areas of the U.S. through operating companies , much as American Telephone & Telegraph provided local telephone service through its 22 Bell Operating Companies . The company acquired BBN Planet , one of

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3906-539: Was restored several days later. The chairmen of Verizon and Google agreed that network neutrality should be defined and limited in August 2010. In October 2010, Verizon Wireless paid $ 77.8 million in refunds and FCC penalties for overcharging 15 million customers for data services. The company stated the overcharges were accidental and only amounted to a few dollars per customer. Verizon introduced its 4G LTE network in 38 markets, as well as airports in seven additional cities in December 2010. The company planned on

3969-473: Was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System . The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing further back than that, until 2000, when it was acquired by Bell Atlantic, which change its name to Verizon . The Wisconsin -based Associated Telephone Utilities Company was founded in 1926; it went bankrupt in 1933 during the Great Depression , and

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