Frontier West Virginia, Inc. is one of the original

Bell Operating Companies The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundre ...

and provides local telephone service in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

History

The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia, originally part of the

Bell System The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundr ...

, was founded on January 1, 1917. C&P of WV took over telephone operations in

being served by Central District and Printing Telegraph Company,

Southern Bell Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company was once the regional Bell Operating Company serving the states of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina prior to the breakup of AT&T. It also covered the states of Alabama, Kentuc ...

, 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 Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas i ...

, upon the divestiture of the

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

. 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 Co. of WV was the last

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

Name changes

In 1994,

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 Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

, 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. The company operates separately from

Citizens Telecommunications Company of West Virginia Citizens Telecommunications Company of West Virginia is the local exchange carrier of telephone service in some regions in West Virginia. The company was founded in 1897 as the Short Line Telephone Company. In 1975, the company changed its name ...

, the existing Frontier provider in the state. Even though

Frontier Communications Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. (known as Citizens Utilities Company until May 2000 and Citizens Communications Company until July 31, 2008) is an American telecommunications company. The company previously served primarily rural areas and s ...

is not a

Baby Bell The Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) are the result of '' United States v. AT&T'', the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit against the former American Telephone & Telegraph Company (later known as AT&T Corp.). On January 8, 19 ...

, the FCC determined that Frontier West Virginia is still bound by laws dating to its time as C&P Telephone of West Virginia; therefore, it is still responsible to uphold obligations expected of

outlined in the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of ...

Unique

Frontier West Virginia was the first Bell Operating Company to have been completely divested by a

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 BellSouth, LLC (stylized as ''BELLSOUTH'' and formerly known as BellSouth Corporation) was an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after ...

US West US West, Inc. (stylized as US WEST) was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 ...

, and

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

; however, the

from which those exchanges were split have been retained by the Baby Bells.

announced on December 17, 2013 that it plans to sell Southern New England Telephone to

. Although SNET is not legally defined as a Bell Operating Company since it was not majority-owned by the original

, it is an original member of the Bell System and now shares a common affiliation with Frontier West Virginia (via ownership by Frontier) for the first time since 1983.

References