Advanced Mobile Phone Service

Advanced Mobile Phone Service, Inc.
Former type	Defunct
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1978
Defunct	1984
Products	AMPS
Parent	AT&T (1983-1984)

Last updated May 27, 2019

Advanced Mobile Phone Service, Inc. was a subsidiary of AT&T prior to the Bell System Divestiture. Abbreviated AMPS, the company was created in 1978 to build and operate the new Advanced Mobile Phone System, also abbreviated AMPS. AMPS was developed by Bell Labs to replace older, severely limited radiophone services, such as IMTS. AMPS was one of the first modern cellular phone systems, which remained in operation until 2008.

Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) was an analog mobile phone system standard developed by Bell Labs, and officially introduced in the Americas on October 13, 1983, Israel in 1986, Australia in 1987, Singapore in 1988, and Pakistan in 1990. It was the primary analog mobile phone system in North America through the 1980s and into the 2000s. As of February 18, 2008, carriers in the United States were no longer required to support AMPS and companies such as AT&T and Verizon Communications have discontinued this service permanently. AMPS was discontinued in Australia in September 2000, in Pakistan by October 2004,, in Israel by January 2010, and Brazil by 2010.

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Service started in Chicago on October 13, 1983, and in the Washington, D.C., area December 1983. After divestiture, AMPS was divided among the 7 newly created Regional Holding Companies, now known as RBOCs:

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AirTouch Communications was a U.S.-based wireless telephone service provider, created as a spin-off on Pacific Telesis on April 1, 1994. Its headquarters were in One California in the Financial District, San Francisco, California. After a series of mergers, the company's vestiges are now part of Verizon Wireless.

Evolution of Successor Companies

Through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and re-consolidation among the Baby Bells, these 7 original mobile operating companies are now split as such -

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References

AT&T History

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