AirTouch Communications, Inc. was an American wireless telephone service provider, created as a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

Pacific Telesis Pacific Telesis Group (PacTel) was one of the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies, sometimes also referred to as "RBOCs" or "Baby Bells", created in 1983 in preparation of the breakup of AT&T Corporation. Pacific Telesis was the holding comp ...

on April 1, 1994. Its headquarters were located in the

One California One California is a , 32-story office skyscraper completed in 1969 in the Financial District of San Francisco, California. It is the 31st-tallest building in the city. The architect of the building was Welton Becket Associates. History The b ...

building in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California. After a series of mergers, the company's vestiges are now part of

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

History

At the time of the

Bell System divestiture The Bell System held a virtual monopoly over telephony infrastructure in the United States since the early 20th century until January 8, 1982. This divestiture of the Bell Operating Companies was initiated in 1974 when the United States Departm ...

in 1984, each

Regional Bell Operating Company A Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) was a corporate entity created as result of the antitrust lawsuit by the United States Department of Justice against the Western Electric Company and American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 194 ...

(Baby Bell) was given a portion of the

Advanced Mobile Phone System Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) was an analog mobile phone system standard originally developed by Bell Labs and later modified in a cooperative effort between Bell Labs and Motorola. It was officially introduced in the Americas on October ...

(AMPS) network corresponding to its service area. Pacific Telesis, the Baby Bell covering California and Nevada, spun off its wireless services as AirTouch Communications in 1994.

US West US West, Inc. 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 Fed. Supp. 131), a cas ...

's US West New Vector was also created from AMPS. In July 1994, U S West agreed to a joint venture with AirTouch as a prelude to merging the cellular unit into AirTouch. By 1996, all accounts were operated under the AirTouch name. Due to regulatory issues, the full merger was not completed until February 1998. As part of the merger, certain overlapping areas of coverage had to be sold to other wireless providers. Many of these went to GTE Wireless. Cellular Phone - AirTouch 1990s

On June 30, 1999, AirTouch Communications merged with UK-based

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

, becoming Vodafone AirTouch, after rejecting overtures from

Bell Atlantic A bell Help:IPA/English, /ˈbɛl/ () is a struck idiophone, directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficien ...

. In September 1999, Vodafone AirTouch announced a $70-billion joint venture with Bell Atlantic to be called

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

, which would be composed of the two companies' U.S. wireless assets, Bell Atlantic Mobile (another AMPS spinoff) and AirTouch Cellular. This wireless joint venture received regulatory approval in six months, and began operations as Verizon Wireless on April 4, 2000. On June 30, 2000, the addition of GTE Wireless' assets, in connection with the merger of Bell Atlantic and

GTE GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...

to form

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...

, made Verizon Wireless the nation's largest wireless communications provider. For the joint venture, Verizon Communications owned 55% and Vodafone owned 45%. AirTouch Paging was re-branded as Verizon Wireless Messaging Services. In June 2006, Verizon Wireless sold the paging division to American Messaging Services. In 2014, Verizon Communications purchased the 45% owned by Vodafone, making Verizon Wireless a wholly owned subsidiary. AirTouch thermal tote bag

Verizon Wireless still maintains a

call center A call centre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American English, American spelling; American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, see spelling differences) is a managed capability th ...

in some of the buildings that used to house AirTouch Cellular's call center and administrative offices.

References

External links

Archive of Airtouch Intercept Messages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Airtouch 1994 establishments in California 1999 mergers and acquisitions 2006 disestablishments in California Companies based in San Francisco Corporate spin-offs Defunct companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Defunct mobile phone companies of the United States Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2006 Telecommunications companies established in 1994 Verizon Wireless Vodafone

History

See also

References

External links