Frontier California

Last updated
Frontier California, Inc.
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Telecommunications
Founded1929;95 years ago (1929)
Products Local Telephone Service
RevenueUS$ 8.6 billion (2019) [1]
Number of employees
21,200 (2019) [2]
Parent GTE (1929-2000)
Verizon (2000-2016)
Frontier (2016-present)
Website Frontier.com

Frontier California, Inc. is a Frontier Communications-owned operating company providing telephone service in former Verizon regions. This included Southern California cities such as Long Beach, Seal Beach, Lakewood, Norwalk and Santa Monica.

Contents

History

GTE was originally the largest non-Bell System telephone company, and the number-two telephone service provider in the United States. It entered California by acquiring the Associated Telephone Company in 1926. It would later merge with Western Utilities Corporation and its affiliates in 1964; the number-three (non-Bell System) provider, Continental Telephone (ConTel), in 1991; and former Bell System member Bell Atlantic in 2000.

GTE was made up of many small "mom and pop" telephone companies that had been purchased to form the General Telephone System, this led the California Public Utilities Commission, in the mid-1960s to proclaim GTE "the worst telephone company in California, bar none." However, in the years following the report, GTE replaced most of its switching equipment, and much of its plant in Southern California. This led to a higher level of service compared to Pacific Bell.

When the 213 area code was being split into 213 and 310, Pacific Bell, then the manager of the 213 area code, chose to split the 213 area code in such a fashion that every single prefix that served a GTE customer was moved into the new 310 area code, while many of Pacific Bell's customers remained in the 213 area code.

GTE California completed the transition from mechanical to electronic switching by 1992.

In the 1990s, GTE California underwent several changes. In 1993, GTE purchased ConTel. Its subsidiary ConTel of California, Inc., which also served parts of Nevada and Arizona, was absorbed into GTE California.

In 2000, GTE was purchased by Bell Atlantic, becoming Verizon. GTE California was then renamed "Verizon California, Inc."

In 2010, operations in Arizona, Nevada, and some of California (mostly in areas near state borders), including some former Contel of California regions, were sold to Frontier Communications, becoming Frontier Communications of the Southwest.

Sale to Frontier

On February 5, 2015, Verizon Communications announced a sale of its remaining wired telecom operations in California, Florida, and Texas to Frontier Communications. Verizon California is included in the sale. The transaction closed in the first half of 2016. [3]

Verizon California transitioned to Frontier Communications on April 1, 2016. [4]

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GTE</span> Defunct American telephone company

GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), 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; with the combined companies formed under the currently operating Verizon banner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regional Bell Operating Company</span> U.S. regional telephone company created by 1984 break of AT&T

A Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) was a corporate entity created as result of the antitrust lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice against the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1974 and settled in the Modification of Final Judgment on January 8, 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area code 562</span> Area code for parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties in California

Area code 562 is a California telephone area code that was split from area code 310 on January 25, 1997. It is the area code for much of southeastern Los Angeles County, including Long Beach, and parts of northern Orange County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakup of the Bell System</span> 1982 U.S. government action to end AT&T Corps monopoly over telephone services

The monopoly position of the Bell System in the U.S. was ended on January 8, 1982. AT&T Corporation proposed by in a consent decree to relinquish control of the Bell Operating Companies, which had provided local telephone service in the United States. AT&T would continue to be a provider of long-distance service, while the now-independent Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), nicknamed the "Baby Bells", would provide local service, and would no longer be directly supplied with equipment from AT&T subsidiary Western Electric.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AirTouch</span> U.S. communications company

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

Hawaiian Telcom, Inc., is the incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) or dominant local telephone company, serving the state of Hawaii. In 2005, Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc., was formed by The Carlyle Group, following its purchase of the Hawaiian Telcom Inc. assets of Verizon Communications. On July 2, 2018, Cincinnati Bell purchased Hawaiian Telcom Holdco, Inc. for $650 Million,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Verizon New England</span> Bell Operating Company in the Northeast US

Verizon New England, Inc. is a Bell Operating Company that once covered most of New England but now only serves most of Massachusetts and all of Rhode Island. It was formerly the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company, more commonly known as New England Telephone, which for seven decades served most of the New England area of the United States as a part of the original AT&T. New England Telephone's original coverage area included Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont as well as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Verizon has sold off service in the northern three states, which as of 2020 were served by Consolidated Communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Embarq</span> American technology company

Embarq Corporation was the largest independent local exchange carrier in the United States, serving customers in 18 states and providing local, long-distance, high-speed data and wireless services to residential and business customers. It had been formerly the local telephone division (LTD) of Sprint Nextel until 2006, when it was spun off as an independent company. Embarq produced more than $6 billion in revenues annually, and had approximately 18,000 employees. It was based in Overland Park, Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ziply Fiber</span> American telecommunications company

Northwest Fiber, LLC, doing business as Ziply Fiber, is an American telecommunications company based in Kirkland, Washington. Owned by WaveDivision Capital, the company operates fiber-optic broadband services in the Pacific Northwest, serving 1.3 million residential and business customers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. It has major offices in Everett, Washington, Beaverton, Oregon, and Hayden, Idaho.

Frontier Southwest Incorporated is a Frontier Communications operating company in Texas. At its peak, Frontier Southwest served Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

Verizon South, Inc. is a Verizon operating company providing local telephone services to portions of Virginia and North Carolina in the United States.

Frontier North, Inc. is a local telephone operating company owned by Frontier Communications.

Frontier Florida LLC is a Frontier Communications operating company providing telephone service in Florida to former GTE and later Verizon regions.

Frontier Midstates, Inc. is a telephone operating company of Frontier Communications serving Indiana and Michigan. It was originally owned by Contel, and later purchased by GTE, Verizon, and then sold to Frontier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frontier Communications</span> American telecommunications company

Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. is an American telecommunications company. Known as Citizens Utilities Company until 2000, Citizens Communications Company until 2008, and Frontier Communications Corporation until 2020, as a communications provider with a fiber-optic network and cloud-based services, Frontier offers broadband internet, digital television, and computer technical support to residential and business customers in 25 states. In some areas it also offers home phone services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bell System</span> American telephone service monopoly (1877-1982)

The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over 100 years from its creation in 1877 until its antitrust breakup in 1983. The system of companies was often colloquially called Ma Bell, as it held a vertical monopoly over telecommunication products and services in most areas of the United States and Canada. At the time of the breakup of the Bell System in the early 1980s, it had assets of $150 billion and employed over one million people.

Frontier West Virginia, Inc. is one of the original Bell Operating Companies and provides local telephone service in the U.S. state of West Virginia.

References

  1. "Frontier Communications (FTR)".
  2. "Frontier Communications (FTR)".
  3. "Verizon to sell wireline operations and towers worth over $15 bln". Reuters. 2015-02-05.
  4. "Frontier Communications: Integration Efforts after Verizon Deal". marketrealist.com. Retrieved 2021-11-25.