Verizon Communications

views updated May 18 2018

Verizon Communications

1095 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036
U.S.A.
Telephone: (212) 395-2121
Fax: (212) 869-3265
Web site:http://www.verizon.com

Public Company
Incorporated:
2000
Employees: 261,153
Sales: $64.7 billion (2000)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: VZ
NAIC: 513310 Wired Telecommunications Carriers; 513322 Cellular and Other Wireless Telecommunications

Verizon Communications was formed in June 2000 with the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE. Verizon Wireless evolved from the merger of Vodafone Airtouch, Bell Atlantic, and GTE. The company operates in four basic business segments: Domestic Telecom, which consists of their 16 telephone operating subsidiaries and include Internet access; Domestic Wireless; International, including wireless; and Information Services, which provides online and print directories and content.

A Brief History of Bell Atlantic

In January 1982, the U.S. Department of Justice ended a 13-year antitrust suit against the worlds largest corporation, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). Pursuant to a consent decree, AT&T maintained its manufacturing and research facilities, as well as its long-distance operations. On January 1, 1984, AT&T divested itself of 22 local operating companies, which were divided among seven regional holding companies (RHCs).

Thus Bell Atlantic was formed from AT&T. The new company served the northern Atlantic states and oversaw seven telephone subsidiaries. AT&T as a competitor proved an immediate and ever-present challenge for Bell Atlantic. In February 1984 the company announced the formation of Bell Atlanticom Systems, a systems and equipment subsidiary to market traditional, cordless, and decorator telephones; wiring components; and home security and healthcare systems. Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems took off early from the starting gate: in March 1984 the company introduced Alex, a cellular telephone service to commence a month later in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, markets. Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems invested $15.1 million in the fledgling cellular service.

In April 1984 Bell Atlantic went to court over the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) delay in charging tariffs for customers accessing the local network. Delaying implementation of the access fee not only violated the consent decree, Bell Atlantic charged, but it also caused Bell Atlantic and its sibling RHCs to cover some of AT&Ts service costs in the interim. To make matters worse, because Bell Atlantic was the lowest-cost provider of all the RHCs, it was losing the most money. (The FCC system was one of allocation, with access-fee funds collected first, then distributed to RHCs based on the companys cost.) Bell Atlantic planned to succeed in spite of the access fee tangle and subsequently allotted more than half of its construction budget for improvement of the network. Bell Atlantic became the first RHC to employ the use of digital termination systems, a microwave technology for local electronic message distribution. The company experimented with a local area data transport system, and planned to install 50,000 miles of optical fiber within a year.

Carving a Niche: Late 1984

Bell Atlantic made several major acquisitions in its first year of operation, including Telecommunications Specialists, Inc. (TSI), a Houston-based interconnect firm; New Jerseys Tri-Continental Leasing Corporation (Tri-Con), a computer and telecommunications equipment provider; and MAIs Sorbus Inc. division, the second-largest U.S. computer service firm.

With the most aggressive diversification of all the RHCs, Bell Atlantic planned to be a full-service company in the increasingly related merging telecommunications and computer sectors. As a struggle for large customers was inevitable, and because the larger customers could potentially set up their own information systems, the company decided to target medium-sized customers. Bell Atlantic offered this customer base everything from information services equipment and data processing to computer maintenance.

Baby Bell Legal Skirmishes in 1985

Of all the unregulated businesses Bell Atlantic was just entering, competition threatened to be even stiffer in the private branch exchange (PBX) market. By early 1985 IBM and Digital Equipment were offering maintenance for their mainframe users, a large portion of Bell Atlantics recently acquired Sorbus customer base. One yearandahalf after divestiture, Bell Atlantic, along with its sibling RHCs and other companies, realized that convergence of telephone hardware and computer data processing was a huge business. Over the next several years the RHCs repeatedly petitioned the Department of Justice for business waivers to become more competitive in not only the national but international telecommunications market.

By the end of 1985 Bell Atlantic earnings were $1.1 billion on revenues of $9.1 billion. Rated against its competitors, Bell Atlantic was the only RHC close to turning a profit on its unregulated businesses, worth $600 million in revenues. While profits remained strong in Bell Atlantics local phone service, its Yellow Pages directory publishing division, due to a disagreement, began to compete with Reuben H. Donnelly Corporation, its previous publisher.

In the meantime, the long-distance market moved uncomfortably close to the RHCs local turf. AT&T and other carriers began competing to carry toll calls in local areas. While this would seem to benefit the residential consumer, it did not; outside competitors cutting into RHC profits merely threatened the very profit margin that helped subsidize the cost of local service. Ending its second year in operation, Bell Atlantics chairman and CEO, Thomas Bolger, described the restrictions on RHCs as the most significant problem in the telecommunications industry in Telephone Engineer & Managements mid-December 1985 issue and he requested the Justice Department come to a decision before the scheduled January 1, 1987 date. If the purpose of the breakup was to promote maximum competition in the industry, the RHCs reasoned that they, the most likely competitors of industry leaders AT&T and IBM, should not be prohibited from fully competing.

Diversification and More Legal Battles: 198688

In July 1987 Bell Atlantic announced a restructuring plan, combining operations of basic telephone service and unregulated businesses. The plan also called for all staff of separate Bell Atlantic telephone companies to report to their respective presidents.

The tables turned rather quickly for Bell Atlantic. In January 1988 the company found itself, along with BellSouth, accused of misconduct in bidding attempts to win government contracts. Senator John Glenn of Ohio led the accusations that the two RHCs had been given confidential price information by a General Services Administration chief. Bell Atlantic disputed the charges entirely, claiming that the senators report was inaccurate.

A New Era in the Late 1980s

Bell Atlantic implemented another reorganization in 1989 by trimming its management staff less 1,700 employees through voluntary retirement and other incentive plans. During this time, Bell Atlantic invested $2.3 billion in network services to upgrade telephone facilities.

To compete in mobile communications, the company marketed an extremely lightweight cellular telephone; at the same time, Bell Atlantic Pagings customer base grew, with a 16 percent increase. In partnership with GTE, Bell Atlantic Yellow Pages increased its customer base through a new subsidiary, the Chesapeake Directory Sales Company. Bell Atlantic Systems Integration was formed in 1989 to research and explore marketing capabilities in voice and data communications, as well as in artificial intelligence.

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for Bell Atlantic came at year-end 1989, when it stepped up activity in the international arena. Economic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe opened up entirely new possibilities in global telecommunications. Slowly exploring opportunities abroad since divestiture, Bell Atlantic was, by 1989, assisting in the installation of telephone software systems for the Dutch national telephone company, PTT Telecom, B.V., as well as for the national telephone company in Spain. A Bell Atlantic German subsidiary was awarded a contract to install microcomputers and related equipment at U.S. Army locations in Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. With consultants located in Austria, France, Italy, and Switzerland, Bell Atlantic planned a European headquarters, Bell Atlantic Europe, S.A., to be located in Brussels, Belgium.

Company Perspectives:

Driven by our belief in the power of networks, the value of customer connections, and the magic of a unified brand, Verizon is becoming one of the worlds leading communications companies. With our unparalleled national scale in landline and wireless networks and a significant global presence, Verizon delivers the benefits of communications voice, high-speed data, Internet access, and wireless to millions of customers every day.

In the United States, however, Bell Atlantic kept running into challenges. In April 1990, the companys Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company was charged with fraud and barred from seeking federal contracts. Bell Atlantic fought back, citing a double standard in that the U.S. Department of Treasury allowed AT&T to win contracts without necessarily having all the required equipment immediately available, while it had barred the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company from doing so. Undaunted by its squabbles with the government, Bell Atlantic had created the worlds largest independent computer maintenance organization by 1990, able to service some 500 brands of computers. With the January 1990 purchase of Control Data Corporations third-party maintenance business, Bell Atlantic sealed its position as the leader in maintenance of both IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation systems.

In the early and mid-1990s Bell Atlantics international division thrived. In 1990 alone the corporation made several significant ventures, which included teaming up with the Korean Telecommunications Authority in a variety of research, marketing, and information exchanges; joining U.S. West to modernize Czechoslovak telecommunications; and partnering with Ameritech and two New Zealand companies to acquire the Telecom Corporation of New Zealand.

Distinguishing Itself: 199196

In 1992 Bell Atlantic acquired Metro Mobile, the second-largest independent cellular radio telecommunications provider in the United States. This particular transaction gave Bell Atlantic the most extensive cellular phone coverage on the East Coast, while a joint venture with NYNEX and GTE to combine their respective cellular networks into one huge national service made news from coast to coast.

The year of 1995 proved pivotal for Bell Atlantics future. A long-awaited ruling in the federal courts gave the company a sweet victory; a federal judge finally ruled in favor of the Baby Bells to offer long-distance services. Bell Atlantic wasted little time, becoming the first Baby Bell to jump into the longdistance market by recruiting customers in Florida, Illinois, North and South Carolina, and Texas in early 1996.

Another major development in 1996 was the announcement that Bell Atlantic and NYNEX would merge and become the nations second-largest telephone company. Though the official announcement came as a surprise to few (rumors had been swirling for months), the deal was at once controversial and ironiconce-struggling Baby Bells were beginning to rival their old parent company. Soon after news of the merger was made public, a new operating unit called Bell Atlantic Internet Solutions debuted, giving customers in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New Jersey a wide range of both business and residential Internet-based products and services.

The New Bell Atlantic: 19972000

Bell Atlantics merger with NYNEX was completed in early 1997. The new companys assets serviced 25 percent of the overall U.S. market in 13 states and accounted for about 140 billion minutes of long-distance traffic; the region not only held one-third of the Fortune 500s headquarters, but the U.S. governments nerve center as well. South of the border, Bell Atlantic continued its varied international coups, this time investing another $50 million in its Mexican venture to gain controlling interest in Grupo Iusacell, of which it had previously owned 42 percent.

By early 1998 the new Bell Atlantic had 39.7 million domestic access lines, 5.4 million domestic wireless customers, 6.3 million global wireless customers, and services in 21 countries worldwide. The company was also the worlds largest publisher of both print and electronic directories, with over 80 million distributed annually. After a rocky road as Bell Atlantics local markets were forced open to competitors, the company was taking advantage of new opportunities in the $20 billion long-distance market and the $8 billion video market, and was continuing to expand globally.

A Brief History of GTE

In March 1990, the largest merger in the history of the telecommunications industry united two former U.S. competitors, GTE Corporation and Contel Corporation, under the GTE name. With a market value of $28 billion, the merged company became a telecommunications powerhouse. Designed to take advantage of the two companies complementary businesses, the merger strengthened GTEs assets in two of its three major areas of operations: telephone service and telecommunications products.

GTE Beginnings

GTEs heritage can be traced to 1918, when three Wisconsin public utility accountants pooled $33,500 to purchase the Richland Center Telephone Company, serving 1,466 telephones in the dairy belt of southern Wisconsin. From the outset, John F. OConnell, Sigurd L. Odegard, and John A. Pratt worked under the guiding principle that better telephone service could be rendered to small communities if a number of exchanges were operated under one managing body.

The first two decades of operation involved numerous acquisitions and growth. By 1935 the company resurfaced as General Telephone Corporation, operating 12 newly consolidated companies. John Winn, a 26-year veteran of the Bell System, was named president. In 1936 General Telephone created a new subsidiary, General Telephone Directory Company, to publish directories for the parents entire service area.

In 1940 LaCroix was elected General Telephones first chairman, and Harold Bozell, a former banker for Associated Telephone Utilities, was named president. Like other businesses, the telephone industry was under government restrictions during World War II, and General Telephone was called upon to increase services at military bases and war-production factories.

Key Dates:

2000:
Verizon Communications is formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE. The company purchases OnePoint Communications Corp., and is renamed Verizon Avenue.
2001:
Verizon earns federal approval to offer long distance service in Connecticut and Pennsylvania: Verizon Wireless joins forces with Lucent Technologies. Verizon Avenue offers high-speed Internet access service nationwide.

Following the war, General Telephone reactivated an acquisitions program that had been dormant for more than a decade and purchased 118,000 telephone lines between 1946 and 1950. In 1950 General Telephone purchased its first telephone equipment manufacturing subsidiary, Leich Electric Company, along with the related Leich Sales Corporation.

In 1959 General Telephone and Sylvania Electric Products merged, and the parents name was changed to General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (GT&E). The merger gave Sylvania; a leader in such industries as lighting, television and radio, and chemistry and metallurgy; the needed capital to expand. For General Telephone, the merger meant the added benefit of Sylvanias extensive research and development capabilities in the field of electronics. Other acquisitions in the late 1950s included Peninsular Telephone Company in Florida, with 300,000 lines, and Lenkurt Electric Company, Inc., a leading producer of microwave and data transmissions system.

The middle of the century saw more deals and acquisitions for GT&E, as well as some dangerous controversy. In March 1970 GT&Es New York City headquarters was bombed by a radical antiwar group in protest of the companys participation in defense work. In December of that year the GT&E board agreed to move the companys headquarters to Stamford, Connecticut.

After initially proposing to build separate satellite systems, GT&E and its telecommunications rival, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, announced in 1974 joint venture plans for the construction and operation of seven earth-based stations interconnected by two satellites. That same year Sylvania acquired name and distribution rights for Philco television and stereo products. GT&E International expanded its activities during the same period, acquiring television manufacturers in Canada and Israel and a telephone manufacturer in Germany.

In 1976, the company reorganized along five global product lines: communications, lighting, consumer electronics, precision materials, and electrical equipment. GT&E International was phased out during the reorganization, and GTE Products Corporation was formed to encompass both domestic and foreign manufacturing and marketing operations. At the same time, GTE Communications Products was formed to oversee operations of Automatic Electric, Lenkurt, Sylvania, and GTE Information Systems.

Another reorganization followed in 1979. GT&E Products Group was eliminated as an organizational unit and GTE Electrical Products, consisting of lighting, precision materials, and electrical equipment was formed. Vanderslice also revitalized the GT&E Telephone Operating Group in order to develop competitive strategies for anticipated regulatory changes in the telecommunications industry.

GT&E sold its consumer electronics businesses, including the accompanying brand names of Philco and Sylvania in 1980, after watching revenues from television and radio operations decrease precipitously with the success of foreign manufacturers. Following AT&Ts 1982 announcement that it would divest 22 telephone operating companies, GT&E made a number of organizational and consolidation moves.

In 1982 the company adopted the name GTE Corporation and formed GTE Mobilnet Incorporated, to handle the companys entrance into the new cellular telephone business. In 1983 GTE sold its electrical equipment, brokerage information services, and cable television equipment businesses.

GTE became the third-largest long-distance telephone company in 1983 through the acquisition of Southern Pacific Communications Company. At the same time, Southern Pacific Satellite Company was acquired, and the two firms were renamed GTE Sprint Communications Corporation and GTE Spacenet Corporation, respectively. Through an agreement with the Department of Justice, GTE conceded to keep Sprint Communications separate from its other telephone companies and limit other GTE telephone subsidiaries in certain markets.

In 1984 GTE formalized its decision to concentrate on three core businesses: telecommunications, lighting, and precision metals. That same year, the companys first satellite was launched, and GTEs cellular telephone service went into operation, and GTEs earnings exceeded $1 billion for the first time.

Beginning in 1986 GTE spun off several operations to form joint ventures. In 1986 GTE Sprint and United Telecommunications long-distance subsidiary, U.S. Telecom, agreed to merge and form US Sprint Communications Company, with each parent retaining a 50 percent interest in the new firm. That same year, GTE transferred its international transmission, overseas central office switching, and business systems operations to a joint venture with Siemens AG of Germany, which took 80 percent ownership of the new firm. The following year, GTE transferred its business systems operations in the United States to a new joint venture, Fujitsu GTE Business Systems, Inc., formed with Fujitsu Limited, which retained 80 percent ownership. In 1987, the company organized its telephone companies around a single national organization headquartered in the Dallas, Texas area.

In 1988, GTE divested its consumer communications products unit as part of a telecommunications strategy to place increasing emphasis on the services sector. The following year GTE sold the majority of its interest in US Sprint to United Telecommunications and its interest in Fujitsu GTE Business Systems to Fujitsu.

In 1989 GTE and AT&T formed the joint venture company AG Communication Systems Corporation, designed to bring advanced digital technology to GTEs switching systems. GTE retained 51 percent control over the joint venture, with AT&T pledging to take complete control of the new firm in 15 years.

With an increasing emphasis on telecommunications, in 1989 GTE launched a program to become the first cellular provider offering nationwide service, and introduced the nations first rural service area providing cellular service on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The following year GTE acquired the Providence Journal Companys cellular properties in five southern states for $710 million and became the second-largest cellular-service provider in the United States.

In 1990 GTE reorganized its activities around three business groups: telecommunications products and services, telephone operations, and electrical products. That same year, GTE and Contel Corporation announced merger plans that would strengthen GTEs telecommunications and telephone sectors. Following action or review by more than 20 governmental bodies, in March 1991 the merger of GTE and Contel was approved.

Contel Corporation

GTE Corporation ranked as the worlds third-largest publicly owned telecommunications company in 1996. With over 20 million telephone access lines in 40 states, the communications conglomerate was Americas leading provider of local telephone services. The $6.6 billion acquisition of Contel Corporation in 1990 nearly doubled GTEs Mobilnet cellular operations, making it the second-largest provider of cellular telephone services in the United States, with over two million customers. GTEs strategy for the mid- to late-1990s focused on technological enhancement of wireline and wireless systems, expansion of data services, global expansion, and diversification into video services.

In 1990 Contel completed the biggest acquisition in its history, a $1.3 billion purchase of McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc.s controlling interests in 13 cellular markets, added more than six million potential customers and doubled Contels cellular potential population market (known in the industry as POPs). While important, that move was eclipsed by the merger with GTE announced later that same year. Through that transition, the two former competitors were expected to integrate telephone and mobile-cellular operations and capitalize on business unit similarities in the field of satellitecommunications as well as in communications systems and services targeting government entities.

Over half of Contels $6.6 billion purchase price, $3.9 billion, was assumed debt. In 1992, in order to reduce that obligation, the company sold its North American Lighting business to a Siemens affiliate for over $1 billion, shaved off local exchange properties in Idaho, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia to Generale another $1 billion, divested its interest in Sprint in 1992, and sold its GTE Spacenet satellite operations to General Electric in 1994.

The long-heralded telecommunications bill, expected to go into effect in 1996, promised to encourage competition among local phone providers, long-distance services, and cable television companies. Many leading telecoms prepared for the new competitive realities by aligning themselves with entertainment and information providers. GTE, on the other hand, continued to focus on its core operations, seeking to make them as efficient as possible. In 1992 a sweeping reorganization effort was launched that was characterized by Telephony magazine as easily one of the nations largest re-engineering processes.

Among other goals, GTE planned to double revenues and slash costs by $1 billion per year by focusing on five key areas of operation: technological enhancement of wireline and wireless systems, expansion of data services, global expansion, and diversification into video services. GTE hoped to cross-sell its large base of wireline customers on wireless, data and video services by launching Tele-Go, a user-friendly service that combined cordless and cellular phone features. The company bought broadband spectrum cellular licenses in Atlanta, Seattle, Cincinnati and Denver, and formed a joint venture with SBC Communications to enhance its cellular capabilities in Texas. In 1995 the company undertook a 15-state test of videoconferencing services, as well as a video dialtone (VDT) experiment that proposed to offer cable television programming to 900,000 homes by 1997. GTE also formed a video programming and interservices joint venture with Ameritech Corporation, Bell-South Corporation, SBC Communications, and The Walt Disney Company in the fall of 1995. Foreign efforts included affiliations with phone companies in Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and China. The early 1990s reorganization included a 37.5 percent workforce reduction, from 177,500 in 1991 to 111,000 by 1994. The fivefold strategy had begun to bear fruit by the mid-1990s. While the communication conglomerates sales remained rather flat, at about $19.8 billion, from 1992 through 1994, its net income increased by 43.7 percent, from $1.74 billion to a record $2.5 billion during the same period.

By 1996 GTE Corporation ranked as the worlds third-largest publicly owned telecommunications company. With over 20 million telephone access lines in 40 states, the communications conglomerate was Americas leading provider of local telephone services. The $6.6 billion acquisition of Contel Corporation in 1990 nearly doubled GTEs Mobilnet cellular operations, making it the second-largest provider of cellular telephone services in the United States, with over two million customers.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996

The year 1996 would be as pivotal as 1984 in the telecommunications industry. The Telecommunications Act was designed to meet the needs of communications for the new century. By this time communications had invaded all aspects of life: wireless, television, computer, the Internet, commerce, education, and research. Until then the communications industry had consisted of telephone service. Broadcast, electricity, and computing had their own industries.

The new law eradicated these boundaries. The Telecommunications Act allowed for any company to compete in any industry. Electric companies could provide Internet access if they wanted. Cable bills could be consolidated with phone bills. The heart of the Telecommunications Act was to allow more competition among communications providers. This also meant that different companies could offer different parts of a phone service, and consumers could choose which company they wanted to pay for each part (for local versus long distance).

The concept was not new; what was new was the advent of advanced equipment and technology that allowed such industries to meld. The Telecommunications Act not only allowed for companies to interconnectit required it.

Because of the available technology and the freedom to offer more services, phone companies began massive restructuring and acquisitions. Four of seven Regional Bell operating companies disappeared shortly after the Telecommunications Act was passed; in addition to these, Bell Atlantic joined the buying frenzy by purchasing NYNEX, Vodafone AirTouch, and GTE. This new conglomerate formed Verizon Communications and Verizon Wireless in April 2000.

Verizon Communications Forms

Verizon, whose name is a combination of the Latin word veritas and the word horizon, combined consumer and business services into one massive $58 billion deal. The wireless division got underway first; the Verizon moniker and logos appeared soon after. The re-branding and melding of the two companies was a formidable task; when the merger was first announced in July 1998 Bell Atlantic operated in 13 Mid-Atlantic states and encompassed local telephone service, video, Internet, and wireless divisions. GTE had wireless, Internet, video, local telephone, and long-distance service in 28 (mostly western) states.

By July 2000, the merger had been approved by the FCC and Verizon was on its way to establishing a complete communications business. However, the company faced several problems from the start: an 18-day strike left the company with 280,000 repair requests to handle; plans to sell DSL Internet connection services were delayed; the company was not allowed to offer long distance in 12 of 13 of its home states; and an initial public offering of Verizon Wireless was postponed several times due to lack of investor interest. In addition, profits for the year fell below expectations, and the initial forecast for 2001 was reduced a third.

More trouble came for Verizon at the end of the year when it pulled out of a merger with NorthPoint, a DSL business. The $800 million deal was to commence at the start of 2001 but Verizon discontinued it at the last minute, citing NorthPoints weakening financial position. Verizon had hoped to expand its out-of-region service and compete with cable companies for Internet service. In December NorthPoint sued Verizon for $1 billion in damages. At the time of this writing the case was scheduled to proceed in a San Francisco court.

Despite these obstacles, the company remained optimistic. The company was especially proud of its 28 million customers, 63 million phone lines, and coverage in 67 of the countrys biggest cities. With telecom service regulations lifted, Verizon set out to offer complete packages of services. The wireless side of the company was optimistic as well; Verizon Wireless planned to spend more than $3 billion to upgrade its network. They also struck a deal with Nortel Networks to supply equipment over a two-year period.

Looking Ahead

Verizons visions for 2001 focused on international expansion. While they already had some links to Toronto, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, the company wanted to expand into major cities in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. They would also offer their Internet services (under the Genuity brand name). New York would be the connecting state while the company waited for approval to add other regions. The company planned a 5-year, $1 billion expansion.

In March 2001, Verizon Wireless joined forces with Lucent Technologies in a $5 billion deal to offer the next generation of high-speed Internet services and wireless technology. With Sprint on their heels, the two companies planned to work on advancements in high-speed mobile Internet services. Verizon Wireless had 27.5 million voice and data customers. The deal would double Verizons existing voice capacity.

After a little more than a year, Verizon was operating in 40 different countries, had 27.5 million customers, and $65 billion in annual revenue. Further expansion, advanced Internet technologies, and broader service was on the agenda for the immediate future.

Principal Operating Units

Verizon Wireless; Verizon Avenue; Verizon Directories.

Principal Competitors

AT&T; Sprint FON; WorldCom.

Further Reading

Bad Connection?, Business Week, August 28, 2000, p. 56.

Barrett, Paul M., Legal Beat: Justices Question Congress Ban on Phone Concerns Offering Cable, Wall Street Journal, December 7, 1995, p. B10.

Bernier, Paula, AT&T, GI Win Round 1 of GTEs Video Rollout, Telephony, March 13, 1995, p. 6.

Bradbury, Steven, and Kasler, Kelion, Verizon Communications: The Merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, Coporate Finance, November 2000, pp. 4748.

Byrne, Harlan S., Sleepy No More, Barrons, January 16, 1995, p. 15.

Cauley, Leslie, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX Discuss Merger to Form Second-Biggest Phone Firm, Wall Street Journal, December 18, 1995, p. A3.

, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX Merger Talks Highlight Roles of Smith and Seidenberg, Wall Street Journal, December 19, 1995, p. A3.

, Technology & Telecommunications: Baby Bells Square Off Against AT&T on Calling Cards, U.S. West Agreement, Wall Street Journal, October 27, 1995, p. B3.

Gold, Howard, Tom Bolgers OneStopShop, Forbes, March 25, 1985.

Gold, Jacqueline S., GTE: Poor Connection, Financial World, October 26, 1993, p. 19.

Greene, Tim, Those Baby Bells Are Growing up Fast, Network World Fusion, November 20, 2000.

Grice, Corey, Digital Darwinism, CNETNews.com, posted February 1, 2001, http://www.cnet.com.

, Verizon Who? CNETNews.com, posted April 3, 2000, http://www.cnet.com.

GTEs New Twist on Cellular, Electronics, April 25, 1994, p. 1.

Heskitt, Ben, Nortel Nabs $500 Million Deal with Verizon, CNET News.com, posted April 12, 2000, http://www.cnet.com.

Jones, Jennifer, Verizons Top Lawyer Blasts FCC, InfoWorld, August 22, 2000.

King, Carol, Lucent, Verizon Bet $5 Billion on 3G, InternetNews, March 19, 2001.

Klebnikov, Paul, TechnoSkeptic, Forbes, February 26, 1996, p. 42.

Lannon, Larry, Bell Atlantics Bolger Demands His Freedom, Telephony, July 14, 1986.

Lavin, Douglas, European Phone Giants Challenge Italy, Wall Street Journal, November 16, 1995, p. A14.

Lucent, Verizon in Major Wireless Deal, Reuters, March 19, 2001.

Martin, Michael, Verizon Expands International Telecom Horizons,Network World, February 12, 2001, p. 10.

, Verizon Leaves NorthPoint at the Altar, Network World, December 4, 2000, p. 98.

Mason, Charles, RHC Barred Federal Contracts, Telephony, April 16, 1990.

, Sculpting a New Industry Structure, Telephony, April 19, 1993, p. 88.

McCarthy, Thomas E., The History of GTE: The Evolution of One of Americas Great Corporations, Stamford, Conn., GTE Corporation, 1990.

Meeks, Fleming, Fail Is Not a Four-Letter Word, Forbes, April 30, 1990.

Mikolas, Mark, What Makes Charles Run, TE&M, April 1, 1987.

Naik, Gautam, Technology & Telecommunications: Bells Venture Likely to Place Cellular Order, Wall Street Journal November 10, 1995, p. B2.

Naraine, Ryan, Verizon Slams Broadband Bill, Internet.com , posted May 23, 2001, http://www.internet.com.

Neighly, Patrick, Verizon Wireless Announces First Boss, Americas Network, May 15, 2000, p. 8.

Ryan, Vincent, Download: Only the Beginning, Telephony, June 26, 2000.

Stone, Martin, NorthPoints $ IB Suit against Verizon Proceeds, The Washington Post, February 16, 2001.

Tell, Lawrence J., Footloose and Fancy Free, Barrons, November 12, 1984.

The Foreign Invasion: New Zealand Discovered the Benefits of Letting Global Companies Be a Part of Reform, Wall Street Journal, October 2, 1995, p. R16.

Verizon and NorthPoint Merge DSL Businesses, Americas Network, September 2000, pp. 3233.

Verizon Faces Lawsuit, Utility Business, January 2001, p. 12.

Verizon, Lucent Enter 3-Year, $5B Partnership, Capital Distict Business Review, March 19, 2001.

Waters, Richard, Verizon Plans $lbn Expansion, Financial Times FT.com , posted February 6, 2001, http://news.ft.com/home/us/.

Weber, Tony, Verizon Stumbles out of the Blocks, Telephony, August 14, 2000, p. 28.

Welti, Patty, Dream Job for GTE, IBM, Americas Network, January 1, 1996, p. 18.

Woolley, Scot, The New Ma Bell, Forbes, April 16, 2001, pp. 6871.

update: Kerri DeVault

Verizon Communications Inc.

views updated May 29 2018

Verizon Communications Inc.

140 West Street
New York, New York 10036
U.S.A.
Telephone: (212) 395-2121
Toll Free: (800) 621-9900
Fax: (212) 869-3265
Web site: http://www.verizon.com

Public Company
Incorporated:
2000
Employees: 210,000
Sales: $75.1 billion (2005)
Stock Exchanges: New York
Ticker Symbol: VZ
NAIC: 513310 Wired Telecommunications Carriers; 513322 Cellular and Other Wireless Telecommunications

Verizon Communications Inc., formed in June 2000 with the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, is a leading provider of communications services. The company's business is split into four main operating segments. Domestic Telecom provides wireline and telecommunications services including broadband. Verizon Wireless is the second-largest wireless provider in the U.S. with over 51 million customers across the United States. Verizon's Information Services unit is involved in directory publishing and electronic commerce services. The company's International arm provides wireline and wireless operations in the Americas and Europe. According to the company, its network connects more than 1.5 billion telephone calls each day. Verizon acquired rival MCI Inc. in an $8.5 billion deal in 2006.

A HISTORY OF BELL ATLANTIC

In January 1982, the U.S. Department of Justice ended a 13-year antitrust suit against the world's largest corporation, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). Pursuant to a consent decree, AT&T maintained its manufacturing and research facilities, as well as its long-distance operations. On January 1, 1984, AT&T divested itself of 22 local operating companies, which were divided among seven regional holding companies (RHCs).

Thus Bell Atlantic was formed from AT&T. The new company served the northern Atlantic states and oversaw seven telephone subsidiaries. AT&T as a competitor proved an immediate and ever-present challenge for Bell Atlantic. In February 1984 the company announced the formation of Bell Atlanticom Systems, a systems and equipment subsidiary to market traditional, cordless, and decorator telephones; wiring components; and home security and healthcare systems. Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems took off early from the starting gate: in March 1984 the company introduced Alex, a cellular telephone service to commence a month later in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, markets. Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems invested $15.1 million in the fledgling cellular service.

In April 1984 Bell Atlantic went to court over the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) delay in charging tariffs for customers accessing the local network. Delaying implementation of the access fee not only violated the consent decree, Bell Atlantic charged, but it also caused Bell Atlantic and its sibling RHCs to cover some of AT&T's service costs in the interim. To make matters worse, because Bell Atlantic was the lowest-cost provider of all the RHCs, it was losing the most money. (The FCC system was one of allocation, with access-fee funds collected first, then distributed to RHCs based on the company's cost.) Bell Atlantic planned to succeed in spite of the access fee tangle and subsequently allotted more than half of its construction budget for improvement of the network. Bell Atlantic became the first RHC to employ the use of digital termination systems, a microwave technology for local electronic message distribution. The company experimented with a local area data transport system, and planned to install 50,000 miles of optical fiber within a year.

Bell Atlantic made several major acquisitions in its first year of operation, including Telecommunications Specialists, Inc. (TSI), a Houston-based interconnect firm; New Jersey's Tri-Continental Leasing Corporation (Tri-Con), a computer and telecommunications equipment provider; and MAI's Sorbus Inc. division, the second-largest U.S. computer service firm.

With the most aggressive diversification of all the RHCs, Bell Atlantic planned to be a full-service company in the increasingly related merging telecommunications and computer sectors. As a struggle for large customers was inevitable, and because the larger customers could potentially set up their own information systems, the company decided to target medium-sized customers. Bell Atlantic offered this customer base everything from information services equipment and data processing to computer maintenance.

Of all the unregulated businesses Bell Atlantic was just entering, competition threatened to be even stiffer in the private branch exchange (PBX) market. By early 1985 IBM and Digital Equipment were offering maintenance for their mainframe users, a large portion of Bell Atlantic's recently acquired Sorbus customer base. Eighteen months after divestiture, Bell Atlantic, along with its sibling RHCs and other companies, realized that convergence of telephone hardware and computer data processing was a huge business. Over the next several years the RHCs repeatedly petitioned the Department of Justice for business waivers to become more competitive in not only the national but international telecommunications market.

By the end of 1985 Bell Atlantic earnings were $1.1 billion on revenues of $9.1 billion. Rated against its competitors, Bell Atlantic was the only RHC close to turning a profit on its unregulated businesses, worth $600 million in revenues. While profits remained strong in Bell Atlantic's local phone service, its Yellow Pages directory publishing division, due to a disagreement, began to compete with Reuben H. Donnelly Corporation, its previous publisher.

In the meantime, the long-distance market moved uncomfortably close to the RHC's local turf. AT&T and other carriers began competing to carry toll calls in local areas. While this would seem to benefit the residential consumer, it did not; outside competitors cutting into RHC profits merely threatened the very profit margin that helped subsidize the cost of local service. Ending its second year in operation, Bell Atlantic's chairman and CEO, Thomas Bolger, described the restrictions on RHCs as "the most significant problem in the telecommunications industry" in Telephone Engineer & Management's mid-December 1985 issue and he requested the Justice Department come to a decision before the scheduled January 1, 1987 date. If the purpose of the breakup was to promote maximum competition in the industry, the RHCs reasoned that they, the most likely competitors of industry leaders AT&T and IBM, should not be prohibited from fully competing.

In July 1987 Bell Atlantic announced a restructuring plan, combining operations of basic telephone service and unregulated businesses. The plan also called for all staff of separate Bell Atlantic telephone companies to report to their respective presidents.

The tables turned rather quickly for Bell Atlantic. In January 1988 the company found itself, along with BellSouth, accused of misconduct in bidding attempts to win government contracts. Senator John Glenn of Ohio led the accusations that the two RHCs had been given confidential price information by a General Services Administration chief. Bell Atlantic disputed the charges entirely, claiming that the senator's report was inaccurate.

COMPANY PERSPECTIVES

To make strong progress in delivering on our promise to be the nation's best provider of quality local, data and long distance services.

Bell Atlantic implemented another reorganization in 1989 by trimming its management staff less 1,700 employees through voluntary retirement and other incentive plans. During this time, Bell Atlantic invested $2.3 billion in network services to upgrade telephone facilities.

To compete in mobile communications, the company marketed an extremely lightweight cellular telephone; at the same time, Bell Atlantic Paging's customer base grew, with a 16 percent increase. In partnership with GTE, Bell Atlantic Yellow Pages increased its customer base through a new subsidiary, the Chesapeake Directory Sales Company. Bell Atlantic Systems Integration was formed in 1989 to research and explore marketing capabilities in voice and data communications, as well as in artificial intelligence.

Perhaps the biggest opportunity for Bell Atlantic came at year-end 1989, when it stepped up activity in the international arena. Economic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe opened up entirely new possibilities in global telecommunications. Slowly exploring opportunities abroad since divestiture, Bell Atlantic was, by 1989, assisting in the installation of telephone software systems for the Dutch national telephone company, PTT Telecom, B.V., as well as for the national telephone company in Spain. A Bell Atlantic German subsidiary was awarded a contract to install microcomputers and related equipment at U.S. Army locations in Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. With consultants located in Austria, France, Italy, and Switzerland, Bell Atlantic planned a European headquarters, Bell Atlantic Europe, S.A., to be located in Brussels, Belgium.

In the United States, however, Bell Atlantic kept running into challenges. In April 1990, the company's Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company was charged with fraud and barred from seeking federal contracts. Bell Atlantic fought back, citing a double standard in that the U.S. Department of Treasury allowed AT&T to win contracts without necessarily having all the required equipment immediately available, while it had barred the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company from doing so. Undaunted by its squabbles with the government, Bell Atlantic had created the world's largest independent computer maintenance organization by 1990, able to service some 500 brands of computers. With the January 1990 purchase of Control Data Corporation's third-party maintenance business, Bell Atlantic sealed its position as the leader in maintenance of both IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation systems.

In the early and mid-1990s Bell Atlantic's international division thrived. In 1990 alone the corporation made several significant ventures, which included teaming up with the Korean Telecommunications Authority in a variety of research, marketing, and information exchanges; joining U.S. West to modernize Czechoslovak telecommunications; and partnering with Ameritech and two New Zealand companies to acquire the Telecom Corporation of New Zealand.

In 1992 Bell Atlantic acquired Metro Mobile, the second-largest independent cellular radio telecommunications provider in the United States. This particular transaction gave Bell Atlantic the most extensive cellular phone coverage on the East Coast, while a joint venture with NYNEX and GTE to combine their respective cellular networks into one huge national service made news from coast to coast.

KEY DATES

2000:
Verizon Communications is formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE. The company purchases OnePoint Communications Corporation, and is renamed Verizon Avenue.
2001:
Verizon earns federal approval to offer long distance service in Connecticut and Pennsylvania: Verizon Wireless joins forces with Lucent Technologies. Verizon Avenue offers high-speed Internet access service nationwide.
2006:
Verizon completes its $8.5 billion purchase of MCI Inc.

The year 1995 proved pivotal for Bell Atlantic's future. A long-awaited ruling in the federal courts gave the company a sweet victory; a federal judge finally ruled in favor of the Baby Bells to offer long-distance services. Bell Atlantic wasted little time, becoming the first Baby Bell to jump into the long-distance market by recruiting customers in Florida, Illinois, North and South Carolina, and Texas in early 1996. Another major development in 1996 was the announcement that Bell Atlantic and NYNEX would merge and become the nation's second-largest telephone company. Though the official announcement came as a surprise to few (rumors had been swirling for months), the deal was at once controversial and ironiconce-struggling Baby Bells were beginning to rival their old parent company. Soon after news of the merger was made public, a new operating unit called Bell Atlantic Internet Solutions debuted, giving customers in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New Jersey a wide range of both business and residential Internet-based products and services.

Bell Atlantic's merger with NYNEX was completed in early 1997. The new company's assets serviced 25 percent of the overall U.S. market in 13 states and accounted for about 140 billion minutes of long-distance traffic; the region not only held one-third of the Fortune 500's headquarters, but the U.S. government's nerve center as well. South of the border, Bell Atlantic continued its varied international coups, this time investing another $50 million in its Mexican venture to gain controlling interest in Grupo Iusacell, of which it had previously owned 42 percent.

By early 1998 the new Bell Atlantic had 39.7 million domestic access lines, 5.4 million domestic wireless customers, 6.3 million global wireless customers, and services in 21 countries worldwide. The company was also the world's largest publisher of both print and electronic directories, with over 80 million distributed annually. After a rocky road as Bell Atlantic's local markets were forced open to competitors, the company was taking advantage of new opportunities in the $20 billion long-distance market and the $8 billion video market, and was continuing to expand globally.

A HISTORY OF GTE

In March 1990, the largest merger in the history of the telecommunications industry united two former U.S. competitors, GTE Corporation and Contel Corporation, under the GTE name. With a market value of $28 billion, the merged company became a telecommunications powerhouse. Designed to take advantage of the two companies' complementary businesses, the merger strengthened GTE's assets in two of its three major areas of operations: telephone service and telecommunications products.

GTE's heritage can be traced to 1918, when three Wisconsin public utility accountants pooled $33,500 to purchase the Richland Center Telephone Company, serving 1,466 telephones in the dairy belt of southern Wisconsin. From the outset, John F. O'Connell, Sigurd L. Odegard, and John A. Pratt worked under the guiding principle that better telephone service could be rendered to small communities if a number of exchanges were operated under one managing body.

The first two decades of operation involved numerous acquisitions and growth. By 1935 the company resurfaced as General Telephone Corporation, operating 12 newly consolidated companies. John Winn, a 26-year veteran of the Bell System, was named president. In 1936 General Telephone created a new subsidiary, General Telephone Directory Company, to publish directories for the parent's entire service area.

In 1940 LaCroix was elected General Telephone's first chairman, and Harold Bozell, a former banker for Associated Telephone Utilities, was named president. Like other businesses, the telephone industry was under government restrictions during World War II, and General Telephone was called upon to increase services at military bases and war-production factories.

Following the war, General Telephone reactivated an acquisitions program that had been dormant for more than a decade and purchased 118,000 telephone lines between 1946 and 1950. In 1950 General Telephone purchased its first telephone equipment manufacturing subsidiary, Leich Electric Company, along with the related Leich Sales Corporation.

In 1959 General Telephone and Sylvania Electric Products merged, and the parent's name was changed to General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (GT&E). The merger gave Sylvania, a leader in such industries as lighting, television and radio, and chemistry and metallurgy, the needed capital to expand. For General Telephone, the merger meant the added benefit of Sylvania's extensive research and development capabilities in the field of electronics. Other acquisitions in the late 1950s included Peninsular Telephone Company in Florida, with 300,000 lines, and Lenkurt Electric Company, Inc., a leading producer of microwave and data transmissions system.

The middle of the century saw more deals and acquisitions for GT&E, as well as some dangerous controversy. In March 1970 GT&E's New York City headquarters was bombed by a radical antiwar group in protest of the company's participation in defense work. In December of that year the GT&E board agreed to move the company's headquarters to Stamford, Connecticut.

After initially proposing to build separate satellite systems, GT&E and its telecommunications rival, American Telephone and Telegraph Company, announced in 1974 joint venture plans for the construction and operation of seven earth-based stations interconnected by two satellites. That same year Sylvania acquired name and distribution rights for Philco television and stereo products. GT&E International expanded its activities during the same period, acquiring television manufacturers in Canada and Israel and a telephone manufacturer in Germany.

In 1976, the company reorganized along five global product lines: communications, lighting, consumer electronics, precision materials, and electrical equipment. GT&E International was phased out during the reorganization, and GTE Products Corporation was formed to encompass both domestic and foreign manufacturing and marketing operations. At the same time, GTE Communications Products was formed to oversee operations of Automatic Electric, Lenkurt, Sylvania, and GTE Information Systems.

Another reorganization followed in 1979. GT&E Products Group was eliminated as an organizational unit and GTE Electrical Products, consisting of lighting, precision materials, and electrical equipment was formed. Vanderslice also revitalized the GT&E Telephone Operating Group in order to develop competitive strategies for anticipated regulatory changes in the telecommunications industry. GT&E sold its consumer electronics businesses, including the accompanying brand names of Philco and Sylvania in 1980, after watching revenues from television and radio operations decrease precipitously with the success of foreign manufacturers. Following AT&T's 1982 announcement that it would divest 22 telephone operating companies, GT&E made a number of organizational and consolidation moves.

In 1982 the company adopted the name GTE Corporation and formed GTE Mobilnet Inc. to handle the company's entrance into the new cellular telephone business. In 1983 GTE sold its electrical equipment, brokerage information services, and cable television equipment businesses.

GTE became the third-largest long-distance telephone company in 1983 through the acquisition of Southern Pacific Communications Company. At the same time, Southern Pacific Satellite Company was acquired, and the two firms were renamed GTE Sprint Communications Corporation and GTE Spacenet Corporation, respectively. Through an agreement with the Department of Justice, GTE conceded to keep Sprint Communications separate from its other telephone companies and limit other GTE telephone subsidiaries in certain markets.

In 1984 GTE formalized its decision to concentrate on three core businesses: telecommunications, lighting, and precision metals. That same year, the company's first satellite was launched, and GTE's cellular telephone service went into operation, and GTE's earnings exceeded $1 billion for the first time.

Beginning in 1986 GTE spun off several operations to form joint ventures. In 1986 GTE Sprint and United Telecommunication's long-distance subsidiary, U.S. Telecom, agreed to merge and form US Sprint Communications Company, with each parent retaining a 50 percent interest in the new firm. That same year, GTE transferred its international transmission, overseas central office switching, and business systems operations to a joint venture with Siemens AG of Germany, which took 80 percent ownership of the new firm. The following year, GTE transferred its business systems operations in the United States to a new joint venture, Fujitsu GTE Business Systems, Inc., formed with Fujitsu Ltd., which retained 80 percent ownership. In 1987, the company organized its telephone companies around a single national organization headquartered in the Dallas, Texas, area.

In 1988, GTE divested its consumer communications products unit as part of a telecommunications strategy to place increasing emphasis on the services sector. The following year GTE sold the majority of its interest in US Sprint to United Telecommunications and its interest in Fujitsu GTE Business Systems to Fujitsu.

In 1989 GTE and AT&T formed the joint venture company AG Communication Systems Corporation, designed to bring advanced digital technology to GTE's switching systems. GTE retained 51 percent control over the joint venture, with AT&T pledging to take complete control of the new firm in 15 years.

With an increasing emphasis on telecommunications, in 1989 GTE launched a program to become the first cellular provider offering nationwide service, and introduced the nation's first rural service area providing cellular service on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The following year GTE acquired the Providence Journal Company's cellular properties in five southern states for $710 million and became the second-largest cellular-service provider in the United States.

In 1990 GTE reorganized its activities around three business groups: telecommunications products and services, telephone operations, and electrical products. That same year, GTE and Contel Corporation announced merger plans that would strengthen GTE's telecommunications and telephone sectors. Following action or review by more than 20 governmental bodies, in March 1991 the merger of GTE and Contel was approved.

GTE Corporation ranked as the world's third-largest publicly owned telecommunications company in 1996. With over 20 million telephone access lines in 40 states, the communications conglomerate was America's leading provider of local telephone services. The $6.6 billion acquisition of Contel Corporation in 1990 nearly doubled GTE's Mobilnet cellular operations, making it the second-largest provider of cellular telephone services in the United States, with over two million customers. GTE's strategy for the midto late-1990s focused on technological enhancement of wireline and wireless systems, expansion of data services, global expansion, and diversification into video services.

In 1990 Contel completed the biggest acquisition in its history, a $1.3 billion purchase of McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc.'s controlling interests in 13 cellular markets, added more than six million potential customers and doubled Contel's cellular potential population market (known in the industry as POPs). While important, that move was eclipsed by the merger with GTE announced later that same year. Through that transition, the two former competitors were expected to integrate telephone and mobile-cellular operations and capitalize on business unit similarities in the field of satellite communications as well as in communications systems and services targeting government entities.

Over half of Contel's $6.6 billion purchase price, $3.9 billion, was assumed debt. In 1992, in order to reduce that obligation, the company sold its North American Lighting business to a Siemens affiliate for over $1 billion, shaved off local exchange properties in Idaho, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia to generate another $1 billion, divested its interest in Sprint in 1992, and sold its GTE Spacenet satellite operations to General Electric in 1994.

The long-heralded telecommunications bill, expected to go into effect in 1996, promised to encourage competition among local phone providers, long-distance services, and cable television companies. Many leading telecoms prepared for the new competitive realities by aligning themselves with entertainment and information providers. GTE, on the other hand, continued to focus on its core operations, seeking to make them as efficient as possible. In 1992 a sweeping reorganization effort was launched that was characterized by Telephony magazine as "easily one of the nation's largest re-engineering processes."

Among other goals, GTE planned to double revenues and slash costs by $1 billion per year by focusing on five key areas of operation: technological enhancement of wireline and wireless systems, expansion of data services, global expansion, and diversification into video services. GTE hoped to cross-sell its large base of wireline customers on wireless, data and video services by launching Tele-Go, a user-friendly service that combined cordless and cellular phone features. The company bought broadband spectrum cellular licenses in Atlanta, Seattle, Cincinnati and Denver, and formed a joint venture with SBC Communications to enhance its cellular capabilities in Texas. In 1995 the company undertook a 15-state test of videoconferencing services, as well as a video dialtone (VDT) experiment that proposed to offer cable television programming to 900,000 homes by 1997. GTE also formed a video programming and interservices joint venture with Ameritech Corporation, BellSouth Corporation, SBC Communications, and The Walt Disney Company in the fall of 1995. Foreign efforts included affiliations with phone companies in Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and China. The early 1990s reorganization included a 37.5 percent work force reduction, from 177,500 in 1991 to 111,000 by 1994. The fivefold strategy had begun to bear fruit by the mid-1990s. While the communication conglomerate's sales remained rather flat, at about $19.8 billion, from 1992 through 1994, its net income increased by 43.7 percent, from $1.74 billion to a record $2.5 billion during the same period.

By 1996 GTE Corporation ranked as the world's third-largest publicly owned telecommunications company. With over 20 million telephone access lines in 40 states, the communications conglomerate was America's leading provider of local telephone services. The $6.6 billion acquisition of Contel Corporation in 1990 nearly doubled GTE's Mobilnet cellular operations, making it the second-largest provider of cellular telephone services in the United States, with over two million customers.

THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996

The year 1996 would be as pivotal as 1984 in the telecommunications industry. The Telecommunications Act was designed to meet the needs of communications for the new century. By this time communications had invaded all aspects of life: wireless, television, computer, the Internet, commerce, education, and research. Until then the communications industry had consisted of telephone service. Broadcast, electricity, and computing had their own industries.

The new law eradicated these boundaries. The Telecommunications Act allowed for any company to compete in any industry. Electric companies could provide Internet access if they wanted. Cable bills could be consolidated with phone bills. The heart of the Telecommunications Act was to allow more competition among communications providers. This also meant that different companies could offer different parts of a phone service, and consumers could choose which company they wanted to pay for each part (for "local" versus "long" distance).

The concept was not new; what was new was the advent of advanced equipment and technology that allowed such industries to meld. The Telecommunications Act not only allowed companies to interconnectit required it.

Because of the available technology and the freedom to offer more services, phone companies began massive restructuring and acquisitions. Four of seven Regional Bell operating companies disappeared shortly after the Telecommunications Act was passed; in addition to these, Bell Atlantic joined the buying frenzy by purchasing NYNEX, Vodafone AirTouch, and GTE. This new conglomerate formed Verizon Communications and Verizon Wireless in April 2000.

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS FORMS

Verizon, whose name is a combination of the Latin word veritas and the word "horizon," combined consumer and business services into one massive $58 billion deal. The wireless division got underway first; the Verizon moniker and logos appeared soon after. The re-branding and melding of the two companies was a formidable task; when the merger was first announced in July 1998 Bell Atlantic operated in 13 Mid-Atlantic states and encompassed local telephone service, video, Internet, and wireless divisions. GTE had wireless, Internet, video, local telephone, and long-distance service in 28 (mostly western) states.

By July 2000, the merger had been approved by the FCC and Verizon was on its way to establishing a complete communications business. However, the company faced several problems from the start: an 18-day strike left the company with 280,000 repair requests to handle; plans to sell DSL Internet connection services were delayed; the company was not allowed to offer long distance in 12 of 13 of its home states; and an initial public offering of Verizon Wireless was postponed several times due to lack of investor interest. In addition, profits for the year fell below expectations, and the initial forecast for 2001 was reduced a third.

More trouble came for Verizon at the end of the year when it pulled out of a merger with NorthPoint, a DSL business. The $800 million deal was to commence at the start of 2001, but Verizon discontinued it at the last minute, citing NorthPoint's weakening financial position. Verizon had hoped to expand its out-of-region service and compete with cable companies for Internet service. In December NorthPoint sued Verizon for $1 billion in damages. NorthPoint accepted Verizon's $175 million settlement offer in 2002.

Despite these obstacles, the company remained optimistic. The company was especially proud of its 28 million customers, 63 million phone lines, and coverage in 67 of the country's biggest cities. With telecom service regulations lifted, Verizon set out to offer complete packages of services. The wireless side of the company was optimistic as well; Verizon Wireless planned to spend more than $3 billion to upgrade its network. They also struck a deal with Nortel Networks to supply equipment over a two-year period.

Verizon's visions for 2001 focused on international expansion. While they already had some links to Toronto, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, the company wanted to expand into major cities in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. They would also offer their Internet services (under the Genuity brand name). New York would be the connecting state while the company waited for approval to add other regions. The company planned a five-year, $1 billion expansion.

In March 2001, Verizon Wireless joined forces with Lucent Technologies in a $5 billion deal to offer the next generation of high-speed Internet services and wireless technology. With Sprint on their heels, the two companies planned to work on advancements in high-speed mobile Internet services. Verizon Wireless had 27.5 million voice and data customers. The deal would double Verizon's existing voice capacity.

After a little more than a year, Verizon was operating in 40 different countries, had 27.5 million customers, and $65 billion in annual revenue. Further expansion, advanced Internet technologies, and broader service was on the agenda for the immediate future.

THE 2005 MCI DEAL

Before Verizon made its play for MCI in 2005, the company spent time divesting certain assets in order to trim debt. Under the leadership of CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon sold its stakes in several wireless operators including Cable and Wireless, STET Hellas, Eurotel Praha, Grupo Iusacell, and CTI Holdings. It also jettisoned its interest in Telecom New Zealand, and many of its access lines in Alabama, Kentucky, and Missouri.

By early 2004, Verizon was well positioned at the top of the telecommunications heap. It was facing staunch competition however, from the likes of cable companies that were expanding into voice services. According to a 2004 Fortune article, cable companies had collectively spent $75 billion in recent years to upgrade their systems to offer customers voice, high-speed Internet, and cable. As such, Verizon teamed up with Direc TV to offer customers digital broadcast satellite services along with voice and Internet services.

In a move designed to strengthen its position in the rapidly changing industry, Verizon offered $6.3 billion to acquire MCI Inc. in February 2005. MCI was a global communications provider with revenues exceeding $20 billion. MCI and WorldCom Inc. had joined together in 1997 in what was the largest merger in U.S. corporate history at the time. The $37 billion union eventually ended in disaster. WorldCom declared bankruptcy in 2002 during a highly publicized accounting scandal. MCI emerged from Chapter 11 protection in April 2004.

Shortly after Verizon made its offer for MCI, competitor Qwest Communications International Inc. came in with an offer of its own. A hotly contested bidding war ensued but in the end, MCI accepted Verizon's $8.5 billion bidwhich was less than Qwest's $9.74 billion offerbecause of the company's stronger financial position and its long-term prospects. The FCC approved the deal in October and Verizon completed the purchase in January 2006.

When the dust settled on the MCI deal, Verizon stood as a leading communications services provider and Verizon Wireless held the number two position behind Cingular Wireless. While Verizon anticipated the addition of MCI would leave it better positioned to succeed in the ever-changing telecommunications industry, its competitors continued to grow even larger. SBC Communications teamed up with AT&T Corporation in 2005 to create the largest telecommunications company in United States. Then in early 2006, AT&T set plans in motion to acquire BellSouth Corporation in a $67 billion deal. If completed, the union would bring together a large portion of the former AT&T monopoly that had been broken up in 1984. With its chief rival growing even larger, many analysts speculated that Verizon may choose to adopt a growth-through-acquisition strategy.

Meanwhile, Verizon management remained optimistic about the company's future and planned to expand further into next-generation broadband services, divest its directories business, and attempt to purchase the shares of Verizon Wireless it didn't already own. Seidenberg was quoted in a 2006 Wall Street Journal article claiming, "Our strategy is to be a customer-focused leader in consumer broadband and video, as well as business and government services, in both the landline and wireless environments. We believe that our superior networks are the basis for innovation and competitive advantage in communications."

                                     Updated, Kerri DeVault

                                 Updated, Christina M. Stansell

PRINCIPAL SUBSIDIARIES

Verizon California Inc.; Verizon Delaware Inc.; Verizon Florida Inc.; Verizon Hawaii Inc.; Verizon Maryland Inc.; Verizon New England Inc.; Verizon New Jersey Inc.; Verizon New York Inc.; Verizon North Inc.; Verizon Northwest Inc.; Verizon Pennsylvania Inc.; Verizon South Inc.; GTE Southwest Incorporated; Verizon Virginia Inc.; Verizon Washington, DC Inc.; Verizon West Virginia Inc.; Cellco Partnership; Verizon Capital Corporation; Verizon Global Funding Corporation; Verizon Information Services Inc.; Verizon International Holdings Ltd.

PRINCIPAL COMPETITORS

AT&T Inc.; Sprint Nextel Corporation; Qwest Communications International Inc.; BellSouth Corporation.

FURTHER READING

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Belson, Ken, "Huge Phone Deal Seeks to Thwart Smaller Rivals," New York Times, March 6, 2006.

, "MCI Shareholders Vote for Sale to Verizon," New York Times, October 7, 2005.

, "Verizon Loses Some Edge Atop the Bells," New York Times, December 28, 2005.

Bernier, Paula, "AT&T, GI Win Round 1 of GTE's Video Rollout," Telephony, March 13, 1995, p. 6.

Bradbury, Steven, and Kelion Kasler, "Verizon Communications: The Merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE," Coporate Finance, November 2000, pp. 47-48.

Byrne, Harlan S., "Sleepy No More," Barron's, January 16, 1995, p. 15.

Cauley, Leslie, "Bell Atlantic and NYNEX Discuss Merger to Form Second-Biggest Phone Firm," Wall Street Journal, December 18, 1995, p. A3.

, "Bell Atlantic and NYNEX Merger Talks Highlight Roles of Smith and Seidenberg," Wall Street Journal, December 19, 1995, p. A3.

, "Technology & Telecommunications: Baby Bells Square Off Against AT&T on Calling Cards, U.S. West Agreement," Wall Street Journal, October 27, 1995, p. B3.

Creswell, Julie, "Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon, Vows to Overpower the Cable Guys by Plowing Billions Into a '90s-Style Broadband Buildout," Fortune, May 31, 2004.

"The Foreign Invasion: New Zealand Discovered the Benefits of Letting Global Companies Be a Part of Reform," Wall Street Journal, October 2, 1995, p. R16.

Gold, Howard, "Tom Bolger's OneStopShop," Forbes, March 25, 1985.

Gold, Jacqueline S., "GTE: Poor Connection," Financial World, October 26, 1993, p. 19.

Greene, Tim, "Those Baby Bells Are Growing up Fast," Network World Fusion, November 20, 2000.

Grice, Corey, "Digital Darwinism," CNET News.com, February 1, 2001.

, "Verizon Who?," CNET News.com, April 3, 2000.

"GTE's New Twist on Cellular," Electronics, April 25, 1994, p. 1.

Heskitt, Ben, "Nortel Nabs $500 Million Deal with Verizon," CNET News.com, April 12, 2000.

Jones, Jennifer, "Verizon's Top Lawyer Blasts FCC," InfoWorld, August 22, 2000.

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"Lucent, Verizon in Major Wireless Deal," Reuters, March 19, 2001.

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, "Verizon Leaves NorthPoint at the Altar," Network World, December 4, 2000, p. 98.

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, "Sculpting a New Industry Structure," Telephony, April 19, 1993, p. 88.

McCarthy, Thomas E., The History of GTE: The Evolution of One of America's Great Corporations, Stamford, Conn., GTE Corporation, 1990.

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Mikolas, Mark, "What Makes Charles Run," TE&M, April 1, 1987.

Naik, Gautam, "Technology & Telecommunications: Bells Venture Likely to Place Cellular Order," Wall Street Journal, November 10, 1995, p. B2.

Naraine, Ryan, "Verizon Slams 'Broadband Bill,'" Internet.com , May 23, 2001.

Neighly, Patrick, "Verizon Wireless Announces First Boss," America's Network, May 15, 2000, p. 8.

Ryan, Vincent, "Download: Only the Beginning," Telephony, June 26, 2000.

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"Verizon and NorthPoint Merge DSL Businesses," America's Network, September 2000, pp. 32-33.

"Verizon Faces Lawsuit," Utility Business, January 2001, p. 12.

"Verizon, Lucent Enter 3-Year, $5B Partnership," Capital Distict Business Review, March 19, 2001.

Waters, Richard, "Verizon Plans $1bn Expansion," Financial Times FT.com, February 6, 2001.

Weber, Tony, "Verizon Stumbles out of the Blocks," Telephony, August 14, 2000, p. 28.

Welti, Patty, "Dream Job for GTE, IBM," America's Network, January 1, 1996, p. 18.

Woolley, Scot, "The New Ma Bell," Forbes, April 16, 2001, pp. 68-71.

Young, Shawn, "Verizon Closes its MCI Purchase," Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2006.

Verizon Communications Inc.

views updated May 21 2018

Verizon Communications Inc.

founded: 1885

Contact Information:

headquarters: 1095 avenue of the americas
new york, ny 10036 phone: (212)395-2121 fax: (212)869-3265 toll free: (800)621-9900 url: http://www.verizon.com

OVERVIEW

A company with more than $67 billion in revenues, Verizon Communications Inc. is the leading local phone company in the United States, the second-leading provider of telecommunications services, and the number one U.S. wireless provider with 132.1 million access lines and nearly 30 million customers. Internationally, Verizon provides service in more than 40 countries with 39 million wireless customers and 10 million access lines. Formed by a 2000 merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp., Verizon is one of the ten largest private U.S. employers with some 247,000 workers. The company is also the world's leading print and online directory publisher.

The company is organized into four segments, each operating as a strategic business unit: Domestic Telecom, Domestic Wireless, Information Services, and International. The Domestic Telecom segment covers local, long-distance, and other telecommunication services. Domestic Wireless includes wireless voice and data services, equipment sales, and paging services. The Information Services segment publishes U.S. and international print and electronic directories and Internet-based shopping guides and also covers Web site creation and related electronic commerce services and products. The International unit includes wireline and wireless communications, investments, and management contracts extending to more than 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific.

COMPANY FINANCES

Verizon's total revenues for the year 2001 were $67.2 billion, which marked a 3.8 percent increase from the previous year, and up nearly $9 billion from 1999. Domestic Telecom sales accounted for 65 percent of total revenues at $43.1 billion; Domestic Wireless accounted for 26 percent at $17.4 billion; International, with 4 percent, brought in $2.3 billion; and Information Services, with 6 percent, sold $4.3 billion in 2001.

Net income, reported at $389 million, declined significantly for the company in 2001, down 96.7 percent from the previous year, due in part to the losses from circumstances associated with the events of September 11, 2001. Verizon stock ranged from a low of $43.80 to a high of $57.40 over a 52-week period. The annual dividend was $1.54 per share, and Verizon's price-earnings ratio was 14.1. One of the company's stated financial goals, after the 2000 merger was complete, was to realize $2 billion in cost savings and merger synergies by 2003. In early 2002, Verizon stated that it did not expect any major economic turnarounds until 2003 and looked for 0 to 1 percent revenue growth for 2002.

ANALYSTS' OPINIONS

As one of the largest phone companies in the United States and a member of the four organizations that dominate the telecommunications industry, several analysts agree that Verizon's long-term financial outlook remains positive. Morgan Stanley reported in April 2002 that some of the company's strengths were its market leadership, strong balance sheet, and the most desirable combination of value, competitive position, and safety in the telecommunications group. The report further stated that Verizon's core local business would offer a steady stream of revenue over the next few years and, despite increased competition in the field and an extended recession, believed Verizon's local companies would prove more resilient to those factors. Stable revenue growth in the 0-3 percent range in the next few years, strong cash flow and an attractive dividend yield were also mentioned in the company's favor. U.S. Bancorp's Piper Jaffray made similar observations in an April 2002 report, praising the company's expense management, cost cutting, and free cash flow but noted that the economic climate and competition in the telecommunications industry negatively affected the company's financial performance, with declining revenue in the first quarter of 2002.


HISTORY

Telecommunications giant Verizon has gone through numerous incarnations from its prestigious origin more than 115 years ago, evolving from the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), which was founded in 1885. The company's history mirrors the history of telephone service itself in the United States.

With Alexander Graham Bell's historic transmission of the first telephone message to his assistant Thomas A. Watson in 1876, the Bell Telephone Company was formed the following year. Later renamed American Bell Telephone Company, the company and its subsidiaries became known as the Bell System. The Bell subsidiary, Newark District Telegraph Company, opened the first New Jersey exchange of the Bell Telephone Company in Newark. AT&T was incorporated in New York in 1885, a wholly owned American Bell Telephone Company subsidiary formed for the purpose of managing and expanding the growing long-distance operation of American Bell. When American Bell reorganized in 1899, AT&T became the parent company of the Bell System, assuming all the business and property of American Bell.

Soon Bell Systems were springing up all over the country. Service in Delaware began in 1897 and 1916 marked the beginning of what is now Verizon West Virginia, then known as the Chesapeake and Potomac (C&P) Telephone Company of West Virginia. In 1904 AT&T acquired the Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone company, which serviced southern New Jersey. New York Telephone Company, another AT&T subsidiary, served northern New Jersey. Newark customers were the first to dial local calls in the first modern dial exchange in 1915. From 1927 to 1984, the company today known as Verizon Communications changed its name from the Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone company and incorporated as New Jersey Bell Telephone Co. (NJB), a subsidiary of AT&T. By 1927 the newly renamed NJB handled an average of more than 2.2 million calls a day and had more than half a million telephones in service.

In 1929 NJB relocated its headquarters to 540 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey, where the Verizon New Jersey still resides. The company installed the first coaxial cable system across New Jersey in 1936, connecting New York and Philadelphia. The year 1944 marked the end of competing service in New Jersey when the last two independent telephone companies, Eastern Telephone and Telegraph Company and the Camden and Atlantic Company, were purchased by NJB. Two years later, NJB installed the one-millionth telephone in Union City. The telephone industry's first nationwide strike occurred at NJB in 1947 and lasted 39 days. The beginning of the next decade brought the introduction of area codes for long-distance calls, with New Jersey getting its 201 designation in 1951. That year also saw the first coast-to-coast, direct dial long-distance call in the nation, between the mayors of Englewood, New Jersey, and Alameda, California. Highlights from the 1960s included the introduction of the princess telephone, the first electronic central office in Succasunna, the launch of the first U.S. touch-tone service, and the introduction of the electronic Traffic Service Position System (TSPS), which would later replace cord-type switchboards. Atlantic City became the first in the nation to provide 911 emergency calling service in 1970.

Some of the company's more innovative developments over the next decade included the first tests for cellular mobile phones in Newark in 1977; the introduction of the cordless telephone to NJB customers in 1982; and the first call utilizing NJB's state of the art laser-powered lightwave communications system, also in 1982. As a result of a 1974 antitrust suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bell System was forced to reorganize with final plans approved by U.S. District Court Judge Harold H. Greene in 1983. After 100 years of providing telephone service, AT&T divested and the Bell System was officially dismembered in 1984. NJB became a subsidiary of the Bell Atlantic Corp., one of the seven "Baby Bell" holding companies.

As the home computer trend was ushered in, NJB began the first service to send and receive data via the home personal computer in 1986. The following year NJB's new CLASS Calling Services were approved, which included call waiting, call forwarding, and three-way calling. In 1994 after nearly 70 years as the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, NJB's name was changed to Bell Atlantic-New Jersey (BA-NJ). Bell Atlantic Corp. acquired "Baby Bell" Nynex in 1997 to form the second largest telephone company in the United States behind AT&T. Another historic merger occurred the very next year, in 1998, when Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp. announced their merger, one of the largest corporate mergers ever in the United States, creating one of the largest communication companies in the world.

FAST FACTS: About Verizon Communications Inc.


Ownership: Verizon Communications Inc. is a publicly owned company traded on the New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Pacific, London, Swiss, Euronext Amsterdam, and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges.

Ticker Symbol: VZ

Officers: Charles R. (Chuck) Lee, Chmn.; Ivan G. Seidenberg, Pres., Dir., and CEO; Doreen A. Toben, EVP and CFO; Lawrence T. Babbio, Jr., VChmn. and Pres., Telecom; Frederic V. Salerno, VChmn.; Michael T. Masin, VChmn. and Pres.; Dennis F. Strigl, EVP, Pres., and CEO of Verizon Wireless

Employees: 247,000

Principal Subsidiary Companies: Verizon operates in more than 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. Verizon's joint venture, Verizon Wireless Inc., is the leading U.S. wireless provider.

Chief Competitors: As a provider of local phone service, long-distance, and wireless services, Verizon Communications Inc. competes with other telecommunications companies in the United States and worldwide, most notably AT&T, Sprint, and WorldCom. Wireless competitors include Sprint PCS, AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless, Nextel Communications, and VoiceStream.




The company continued innovating the industry under the Bell Atlantic name. Bell Atlantic-New Jersey's telecommunications became all digital in 1999, and the company also won approval from the FCC that year to begin offering long distance service in the New York area. On April 3, 2000, the company announced that its new moniker resulting from their prominent union would be Verizon. The next day, Bell Atlantic merged with Vodafone Airtouch to create Verizon Wireless. On June 30, 2000, the Bell Atlantic and GTE merger became complete and Verizon Communications Inc. was officially in business, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the new symbol, VZ. Of all the Baby Bells of history, all that remained of the Bell names by 2000 was Bell South.

STRATEGY

Preferring to use the word "promise" over "strategy" or "performance," the Verizon Promise incorporates Verizon's core purpose: to bring the benefits of communications to everybody. Their corresponding core goal is to create the most respected brand in communications. Building on their heritage to create their future, Verizon lists their values as integrity, respect, imagination, and passion, and they single out service as a value that spans their past and future as well as capturing their reliability, quality, and excellent performance for customers. Verizon believes it will be a successful company when they make and keep their promise to customers, communities, shareholders, and employees. These promises include: promising the world of communications that they will lead it; promising customers and all their stakeholders that they absolutely can rely upon them; and promising themselves that they are going to settle for nothing less than greatness.

Verizon's core operational strategy in 2001 focused on reducing costs, managing complex networks, introducing new products, and delivering superior service to customers. With increasing competition and changes in technology on the horizon, Verizon plans to concentrate on the basics in 2002 to solidify their position as an industry leader, building on a prestigious brand name, existing customer relationships, and dedication to customer service. The company's long-term strategy consists of ushering in new technology, including the next generation of broadband wireless data, and related products and services. Their continued innovation will ultimately be the key to any future success within the telecommunications industry.

CHRONOLOGY: Key Dates for Verizon Communications Inc.


1885:

AT&T incorporates as a subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company

1899:

AT&T becomes the parent company of the Bell System

1904:

AT&T acquires the Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone company

1927:

The company today known as Verizon changed its name from the Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone company and incorporated as New Jersey Bell Telephone Co. (NJB), a subsidiary of AT&T

1929:

NJB moves its headquarters to 540 Broad Street, Newark

1944:

NJB purchases the last two independent telephone companies, Eastern Telephone and Telegraph Company and the Camden and Atlantic Company

1946:

NJB installs the one-millionth telephone

1951:

NJB enables first coast-to-coast long-distance dialing

1969:

NJB's introduces the electronic Traffic Service Position System (TSPS), replacing the old cord switchboards

1974:

Antitrust suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, calling for dismantling of the Bell System

1984:

Final reorganizations plans approved; AT&T divests and the Bell System is officially dismembered; NJB became a subsidiary of the Bell Atlantic Corp., one of the seven "Baby Bell" holding companies

1994:

New Jersey Bell Telephone Company (NJB) changes name to Bell Atlantic-New Jersey (BANJ)

1997:

Bell Atlantic Corp. acquires "Baby Bell" Nynex in 1997 to form the second largest U.S. telephone company, behind AT&T

1998:

Bell Atlantic and GTE Corp. merge, one of the largest corporate mergers ever in the United States, creating one of the largest communication companies in the world

2000:

The company announces that its new moniker resulting from their merger would be Verizon; Bell Atlantic merges with Vodafone Airtouch to create Verizon Wireless




INFLUENCES

With profits dwindling in 2001 due to economic factors, the company also noted a significant decrease in local communications services, a large part of their business, since more consumers were giving up second phone lines for Internet connections in favor of high-speed lines and wireless access. The leader in local phone service due to years of innovation in the telecom industry, Verizon began offering long-distance service in 2000 to better compete in the overall telecom landscape. The move benefited the company by having a more diverse revenue base and increasing the largest segment of its company, Domestic Telecom. Ranking as the country's fourth largest long-distance company, Verizon had 8.2 million long distance customers in early 2002. By merging with Vodaphone, Verizon Wireless became the instant leader in wireless communication and has spurred the company to extend its wireless reach even further. As unprecedented innovators, Verizon made sure they remained so, increasing their DSL lines by 88 percent for the year 2001, totaling 1.35 million lines. A back to basics approach, including cost cutting from years of steady growth, is one of Verizon's reactions to the disappointing profits in 2001 and early 2002. The company cut 16,000 full-time jobs and 13,000 part-time positions in 2001 and planned to cut another 10,000 in the year 2002.



CURRENT TRENDS

Verizon continues to expand their range of services by entering the long-distance game. The company began such service in New York in 2000 and the following year in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. More than two-thirds of all Verizon access lines offered long-distance service by early 2002. The wireless segment of the company continued its growth trend, combining business operations with Price Communications Wireless in late 2001. As the controlling partner, Verizon Wireless will gain a significant 560,000 customers.

With the formation of the business unit Global Solutions Inc., Verizon began an initiative in early 2001 to expand its presence in the carrier and large business markets worldwide. The unit will offer a network that connects commercial centers worldwide and offer a range of data, Internet, and voice services.



PRODUCTS

Verizon's Domestic Telecom segment covers local, long-distance, and other telecommunication services. The company's Domestic Wireless unit includes wireless voice and data services, equipment sales, and paging services. Products and services in the Information Services segment include U.S. and international print and electronic directories and Internet-based shopping guides, and it also covers Web site creation and related electronic commerce services and products. Some of the company's directories are the print Verizon SuperPages white and yellow pages and the online Internet directory Super-Pages.com. The segment also provides sales, publishing, and related services to nearly 2,300 directory titles worldwide with total circulation of about 106 million copies in the United States and 44 million internationally.

In early 2002 Verizon began offering bill payment services for its telephone customers, as well as purchases of long-distance minutes through a link to Verizon's customer Web site on 7-Eleven Stores Inc.'s Vcoms—Web-based multifunction automated teller machines. The Vcom machines, which offer Western Union money orders and automated check-cashing, have been tested in Texas and Florida.




CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP

The Verizon Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, serving the nonprofit community. The Foundation aims to invest $75 million and benefit more than 14,000 nonprofit organizations in various communities served by the company across the country, making it one of the ten biggest U.S. corporate foundations. The Foundation focuses on four main funding areas, emphasizing innovative technology solutions to solve problems: Literacy; Community Technology Development; Workforce Development; and Employee Volunteerism. With more than $10 million in grants earned by Verizon employees who volunteer their time and money for nonprofit organizations, Verizon is one of the biggest supporters of employee volunteerism in the world. Some of the organizations supported by Verizon employees each year include the United Way, Literacy Volunteers, Junior Achievement, the mentoring program Aspira, and international programs to benefit disaster victims and cancer and AIDS patients and research. The mission of the foundation is to offer an online philanthropic community network dedicated to supporting the 700,000 nonprofit organizations in the United States.

GLOBAL PRESENCE

Verizon's International segment incorporates wireline and wireless telecommunications operations in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. In Asia, Verizon has a presence in India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Thailand. Verizon's European operations include Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, Gibraltar, the United Kingdom and elsewhere as the company poises for additional opportunities in the region as technology progresses and regulations alter there. Verizon cites the rapidly growing markets of the Americas and the Caribbean as an important part of its current operations and future strategy, with a presence in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. With about 10 million access lines and wireless service to approximately 39 million customers, the International segment accounted for $2.3 billion in revenues in 2001 and experienced 18.3 percent growth over the previous year.

The company also has a number of consolidated international investments, including Grupo Iusacell in Mexico; CODETEL in the Dominican Republic; CTI Holdings, S.A. in Argentina; Micronewsian Telecommunications Corporation in the Northern Mariana Islands; and Global Solutions Inc.



EMPLOYMENT

Verizon boasts a unique environment of talented and diverse employees. The company is committed to hiring, training, and developing professionals from diverse backgrounds, races, and creeds. They offer performance-based bonuses, tuition reimbursement, and career and growth opportunities. Employees are encouraged to grow professionally through attending training classes, conferences, and seminars and are also offered a broad internal training curriculum.

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

With the first three letters of its name borrowed from the Latin word "veritas," meaning truth, and the second part of its name derived from the world "horizon," Verizon not only conveys images of honesty, trustworthiness, dependability, leadership, and possibilities with the merger of the two words, but it also signifies the historic merger between the two companies, Bell Atlantic and GTE, that formed one of the world's leading communications companies. Capitalizing on the first letter of its name, the "V" became the peace sign flashed by numerous people in the Verizon Wireless ads of early 2000. Initial reaction to the name was mixed—some found it refreshing and new, while others didn't like that it broke from tradition by not describing or invoking any kind of telecommunications lingo.




The company offers a variety of options for medical, dental, and life insurance, as well as reimbursement accounts. Other benefits include a generous time off plan, Employee Assistance Program, Adoption Benefits, and Dependant Life Insurance with some locations additionally offering Day Care Assistance.



SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Bibliography

"verizon communications inc." gale group, june 2002. available at http://galenet.galegroup.com.

"verizon communications inc." hoover's online, june 2002. available at http://www.hoovers.com.

"verizon has a deal with 7-eleven on the horizon." cardline, 2 november 2001.

verizon home page, 2002. available at http://www.verizon.com.

For an annual report:

on the internet at: http://www.verizon.comor write: verizon communications inc., 1095 avenue of the americas, new york, ny 10036


For additional industry research:

investigate companies by their standard industrial classification codes, also known as sics. verizon communications inc.'s primary sics are:

4812 radiotelephone communications 4813 telephone communications except radiotelephone

6719 holding companies, not elsewhere classified

also investigate companies by their north american industryclassification system codes, also known as naics codes. verizon communications inc.'s primary naics codes are:


513310 wired telecommunications carriers

513322 cellular and other wireless telecommunications

551112 offices of other holding companies