User:VZBob/History

Formation (2000-2002)

Verizon Communications formed in June 2000 when the Federal Communications Commission approved a US$64.7 billion merger of telephone companies Bell Atlantic and GTE, nearly two years after the businesses proposed the deal in July 1998. The approval came with 25 stipulations to preserve competition between local phone carriers, including investing in new markets and broadband technologies. The new venture was headed by co-CEOs Charles Lee, formerly the CEO of GTE, and Bell Atlantic CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

Upon its inception, Verizon became the largest local telephone company in the United States, operating 63 million telephone lines in 40 states. The company also inherited 25 million mobile phone customers. Additionally, Verizon offered Internet services and long-distance calling in New York, before expanding long-distance operations to other states.

The name Verizon derives from the combination of the words veritas, Latin for truth, and horizon. The name was chosen from 8,500 candidates and the company spent $300 million on marketing the new brand.

Two months before the FCC gave final approval on the formation of Verizon Communications, Bell Atlantic formed Verizon Wireless in a joint venture with the British telecommunications company Vodafone in April 2000. The companies established Verizon Wireless as its own business operated by Bell Atlantic, which owned 55% of the venture. Vodafone retained 45% of the company. The deal was valued at approximately $70 billion and created a mobile carrier with 23 million customers. Verizon Wireless merged Bell Atlantic's wireless network, Vodafone's AirTouch and PrimeCo holdings, and the wireless division of GTE. Due to its size, Verizon Wireless was able to offer national coverage at competitive rates, giving it an advantage over regional providers typical of the time.

During its first operational year, Verizon Wireless released Mobile Web, an Internet service that allowed customers to access partner sites such as E*Trade, ABC News, ESPN, Amazon, Ticketmaster and MSN, as well as the "New Every Two" program, which gave customers a free phone with every two-year service contract. In another partnership with MSN in 2002, Verizon Wireless launched the mobile content service "VZW with MSN" and a phone that utilized the Microsoft Windows operating system.

In August 2000, approximately 85,000 Verizon workers went on an 18-day labor strike after their union contracts expired. The strike affected quarterly revenues, resulting in Verizon Wireless' postponement of the company's IPO (the IPO was ultimately cancelled in 2003, because the company no longer needed to raise revenue for Verizon Wireless due to increased profits ), and created a backlog of repairs. In August of 2002, Verizon began offering local, long-distance, and mobile calling, as well as Internet service, in a bundle. It was initially only available to customers in New York and Massachusetts.

2003-2005

In June 2003, Verizon Wireless backed an FCC-issued portability requirement that permitted consumers to take their phone numbers with them across carriers. The company gained 1.5 million new subscribers the following quarter, partially due to the rule change. The following year, in April 2004, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added Verizon Communications to its stock market index in April 2004. Verizon replaced telecom competitor AT&T, which had been a part of the index since the Great Depression.

On December 22, 2004, mail servers at Verizon.net were configured not to accept connections from Europe, by default, in an attempt to reduce spam email that was originating from the region. Individual domains would only be unblocked upon request.

Verizon launched its FiOS Internet service, which transmits data over fiber optic cables in Keller, Texas. The company launched FiOS TV in September 2005, also in Keller, Texas. Twenty percent of qualified homes signed up by the end of the year. By January 2006, FiOS offered over 350 channels in eight states, including 20 high-definition channels as well as video on demand.

MCI Acquisition

Verizon began negotiations to purchase long distance carrier MCI in 2005. MCI accepted the company's initial $6.75 billion offer in February 2005, but then received a higher offer from Qwest Communications. Verizon increased its bid to $7.6 billion (or $23.50 a share), which MCI accepted on March 29, 2005. The acquisition gave the company access to MCI's one million corporate clients and international holdings, expanding Verizon's presence into global markets. As a result, Verizon Business was established as a new division to serve the company's business and government customers. The FCC approved deal on November 5th 2005, valuing it at $8.5 billion. Verizon's 2006 revenues rose by as much as 20% following the purchase.

2006-2010

In May 2006, USA Today reported that Verizon, as well as AT&T and BellSouth, had given the National Security Agency landline phone records following the September 11 attacks. That same month, a $50 billion lawsuit was filed by two lawyers on behalf of all Verizon subscribers for privacy violations and to prevent the company from releasing additional records without consent or warrant. Protesters staged the National Day of Out(R)age due in part to the controversy. Verizon stated in 2007 that the company fulfilled only "lawful demands" for information, though also acknowledged surrendering customer information to government agencies without court orders or warrants 720 times between 2005 and 2007.

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

Verizon Wireless reversed a controversial decision in September 2007 to deny NARAL Pro-Choice America a short code through which the organization could text consumers who had signed up for messaging from the group. They had initially refused the group access to a code by reserving the right to block "controversial or unsavory" messages.

In November 2007, Verizon opened its networks for the first time to third party apps and devices, a decision that allowed it to participate in the FCC's 2008 700 MHz auction of "open access" spectrum. During that auction, the company bid $9.4 billion and won the bulk of national and local licenses for airwaves reaching approximately 469 million people. Verizon utilized the increased spectrum for its 4G service.

Verizon Wireless purchased wireless carrier Alltell for $28.1 billion in June 2008. The acquisition included 13 million customers, which allowed Verizon Wireless to surpass AT&T in number of customers and reach new markets in rural areas.

In October 2010, Verizon Wireless paid $77.8 million in refunds and FCC penalties for overcharging 15 million customers for data services. The company stated the overcharges were accidental and only amounted to a few dollars per customer.

Verizon introduced its 4G LTE network in 38 markets in December 2010, as well as in airports in seven additional cities. The company planned on a three-year continuous expansion of the 4G service.

Selling wirelines

Between 2005-2010, Verizon divested wireline operations in several states in order to focus on its wireless, FiOS internet and FiOS TV businesses. It sold 700,000 lines in Hawaii in 2005, and spun off lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in January 2007 that were then purchased by FairPoint Communications for $2.72 billion. In 2009, the company spun off wirelines in 14 states into a company that then merged with Frontier Communications in a deal valued at $8.6 billion. Verizon also shed its telephone directory business in 2006.

2011-present

On January 27th 2011, Verizon acquired Terremark, an information technology services company for $1.4 billion.

In February 2011, Verizon Wireless began selling the iPhone 4, which eventually became the most successful launch on the network, outselling all previous phones in the company's history.

Ivan Seidenberg stepped down as Verizon's CEO on August 1, 2011. Lowell McAdam succeeded him.

In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Verizon for its tax avoidance procedures after it spent $52.34 million on lobbying while collecting $951 million in tax rebates between 2008 and 2010 and making a profit of $32.5 billion. The same report also criticized Verizon for increasing executive pay by 167% in 2010 for its top five executives while laying off 21,308 workers between 2008 and 2010. However, in its Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 24, 2012, Verizon reported having paid more than $11.1 billion in taxes (including income, employment and property taxes) from 2009 to 2011. In addition, the company reported in the 10-K that most of the drop in employment since 2008 was due to a voluntary retirement offer.

In June 2012, as part of its strategy to expand into new growth areas in its wireless business, Verizon purchased Hughes Telematics—a company that produces wireless features for automobiles—for $612 million.

Also in June 2012, Verizon's E-911 service failed in the aftermath of the June 2012 derecho storm in several northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., with some problems lasting several days. The FCC conducted an investigation and in January 2013 released a report detailing the problems that led to the failure. Verizon reported that it had already addressed or was addressing a number of the issues related to the FCC report, including the causes of generator failures, conducting audits of backup systems and making its monitoring systems less centralized, although the FCC indicated that Verizon still needed to make additional improvements.

In August 2012, the Department of Justice approved Verizon's purchase of Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum from a consortium of cable companies, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, for $3.9 billion. Verizon began expanding its LTE network utilizing these extra airwaves in October 2013.

On June 5, 2013, The Guardian reported it had obtained an order by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and approved by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that required Verizon to provide the NSA with telephone metadata for all calls originating in the U.S. Verizon Wireless was not part of the NSA data collection for wireless accounts due to foreign ownership issues.

In September 2013, Verizon purchased the 45% stake in Verizon Wireless owned by Vodafone for $130 billion. The deal closed on February 21, 2014, becoming the third largest corporate deal ever signed, giving Verizon Communications sole ownership of Verizon Wireless.

On January 14, 2014, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC's net neutrality rules after Verizon filed suit against them in January 2010.

On January 22, 2014 the Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon Communications Inc. received more than 1,000 requests for information about its subscribers on national security grounds via National Security Letters. In total, Verizon received 321,545 requests from federal, state and local law enforcement for U.S. customer information.