Frontier West Virginia

Frontier West Virginia, Inc.
Formerly called	The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia (1917-1994) Bell Atlantic - West Virginia, Inc. (1994-2000) Verizon West Virginia, Inc. (2000-2010)
Type	Subsidiary of Frontier
Industry	Telecommunications
Predecessor	C&P Telephone of Maryland Southern Bell
Founded	1917
Headquarters	Charleston, WV, USA
Area served	West Virginia
Products	Local Telephone Service
Parent	AT&T (1917–1983) Bell Atlantic/Verizon (1984-2010) Frontier (2010–present)
Website	www.frontier.com/westvirginia

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

History

The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia, originally part of the Bell System, was founded on January 1, 1917. C&P of WV took over telephone operations in West Virginia being served by Central District and Printing Telegraph Company, Southern Bell, and The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland.

Dial service was first introduced by C&P of West Virginia in 1925 to the Huntington central office.

Bell Atlantic ownership

In 1984, The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia became a holding of Bell Atlantic, upon the divestiture of the Bell System by AT&T.

Charleston became the first city in the United States to have a choice of long distance companies. By dialing "1" plus the area code and number, they could choose their long distance carrier. Charleston was the nation's first test market for the service, allowing 34,000 customers to choose from one of eight long distance companies serving the area.

C&P Telephone logo, 1984-1994

C&P Telephone Co. of WV was the last Bell Atlantic company to provide party line telephone service. The last party line was converted to "private line" service on October 30, 1989.

In 1993, C&P Telephone of West Virginia took its last analog switch out of service, becoming the first Bell Operating Company to have 100% digital switching^[1]

Name changes

In 1994, Bell Atlantic standardized all of its Bell Operating Company names, resulting in C&P Telephone of West Virginia being renamed Bell Atlantic - West Virginia, Inc. In 2000, upon its purchase of GTE, Bell Atlantic became Verizon Communications, resulting in the new name Verizon West Virginia, Inc.

Sale to Frontier

On July 1, 2010, Verizon spun off New Communications Holdings, Inc. and its holding company New Communications ILEC Holdings to Verizon shareholders, which then merged with Frontier Communications. Included in the sale was Verizon West Virginia, among other select Verizon landline properties, which became Frontier West Virginia, Inc.^[2] The company operates separately from Citizens Telecommunications Company of West Virginia, the existing Frontier provider in the state.

Even though Frontier Communications is not a Baby Bell, the FCC determined that Frontier West Virginia is successor to laws imposed during its time as C&P Telephone of West Virginia; therefore, it is still responsible to uphold obligations expected of Bell Operating Companies outlined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.^[3]

Unique

Frontier West Virginia was the first Bell Operating Company to have been completely divested by a Baby Bell and sold to a non-Baby Bell. Some historically Bell local access lines have been sold to non-Baby Bells over the years by BellSouth, US West, and Verizon; however, the Bell Operating Companies from which those exchanges were split have remained in existence with the Baby Bells.

AT&T announced on December 17, 2013 that it plans to sell Southern New England Telephone to Frontier Communications.^[4] Although SNET is not legally defined as a Bell Operating Company since it was not majority-owned by the original AT&T, it is an original member of the Bell System and will share common affiliation with Frontier West Virginia (via ownership by Frontier) for the first time since 1983.

References

↑ Verizon West Virginia history
↑ Frontier Requested Legal Names and Codes, June 15, 2010
↑ (2010-05-28). Verizon and Frontier Win FCC Approval of Transfer of 4.8 Million Lines; Approval Subject to Certain Conditions Garvey Schubert Barer Law Firm. Retrieved 2012-06-05.
↑

Frontier Communications Corporation

Operating companies	Citizens Telecommunications Company of California Citizens Telecommunications Company of Idaho Citizens Telecommunications Company of Illinois Citizens Telecommunications Company of Minnesota Citizens Telecommunications Company of Montana Citizens Telecommunications Company of New York Citizens Telecommunications Company of Nebraska Citizens Telecommunications Company of Nevada Citizens Telecommunications Company of Oregon Citizens Telecommunications Company of Tennessee Citizens Telecommunications Company of the Volunteer State Citizens Telecommunications Company of the White Mountains Citizens Telecommunications of Utah Citizens Telecommunications Company of West Virginia Citizens Utilities Rural Frontier Communications Northwest Frontier Communications of Breezewood Frontier Communications of Mondovi Frontier Communications of the Carolinas Frontier Communications of the Southwest Frontier Communications of Virginia Frontier Midstates Frontier North Frontier Telephone of Rochester Frontier West Virginia Navajo Communications Ogden Telephone Rhinelander Telephone Southern New England Telephone

Long distance/Internet services	Frontier Communications of America Frontier Communications Online and Long Distance SNET America

Bell System

Parent company

American Telephone and Telegraph Company

Local telephone companies still extant

Wholly owned	Bell Telephone Company of Nevada The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia The Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia Diamond State Telephone Illinois Bell Indiana Bell Michigan Bell Mountain Bell New England Telephone New Jersey Bell New York Telephone Northwestern Bell Ohio Bell Pacific Northwest Bell Pacific Telephone South Central Bell Southern Bell Southwestern Bell Wisconsin Telephone

Partially owned	Southern New England Telephone Cincinnati Bell

Other subsidiaries

Manufacturing	Western Electric

Research	Bell Labs

Long distance	Long Lines

Wireless	Advanced Mobile Phone Service

Regional Bell Companies	Bell Canada (1880-1975)

Historical

Commemorative	Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site Bell Boatyard Bell Homestead National Historic Site Bell Telephone Memorial Telephone Pioneers of America Spirit of Communication

Defunct	Bell Telephone Company New England Telephone and Telegraph Company International Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company of Canada Northern Electric Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company AT&T Technologies, Inc.

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