AirTouch Communications was an American

wireless telephone Wireless telephone may refer to: * Cordless telephone, a telephone in which the handset is portable and communicates with the body of the phone by radio, instead of being attached by a cord * Mobile phone, a portable telephone that can make and rec ...

service provider, created as a spin-off on

Pacific Telesis Pacific Telesis Group 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 as a holding company for Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, Pacif ...

on April 1, 1994. Its headquarters were in

One California One California is a , 32-storey, story office skyscraper completed in 1969 in the Financial District, San Francisco, Financial District of San Francisco, California. It is the List of tallest buildings in San Francisco, 31st-tallest building in ...

in the

Financial District, San Francisco The Financial District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States, that serves as its main central business district and had 372,829 jobs according to U.S. census tracts as of 2012-2016. It is home to the city's largest concen ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

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

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 divi ...

History

At the time of the

Bell System divestiture The breakup of the Bell System was mandated on January 8, 1982, by an agreed consent decree providing that AT&T Corporation would, as had been initially proposed by AT&T, relinquish control of the Bell Operating Companies, which had provided loc ...

in 1984, each

Regional Bell Operating Company 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, 1982 ...

(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. (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 ...

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

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

, becoming Vodafone AirTouch, after rejecting overtures from

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 in ...

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

, 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., 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 ...

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

call center A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...

in some of the buildings that used to house AirTouch Cellular's call center and administrative offices. In 1994, AirTouch was considered by some to be an innovative company in its approach to employee management. It invested in its employees in incentives, training, opportunities, and innovation. They focused on total quality management (TQM) which encouraged all employees to submit process improvement ideas annually following the Quality Blue Print Advantage. Notable were Benjamin Franklin ($100 bill) distributions with customer growth milestones from the GM/VP's desk without it being taxable and Right Things Right (internal

employee recognition Employee recognition is the timely, informal or formal acknowledgement of a person's behavior, effort, or business result that supports the organization's goals and values, and exceeds his superior's normal expectations. Recognition has been held to ...

program). Former employees often plan reunions to reminisce fondly about their experiences with the company.

Merger timeline

* AirTouch Communications was formed when Pacific Telesis spun off PacTel Cellular in 1994. * In July 1994, AirTouch Communications and US West formed a joint venture to eventually merge their cellular operations. * In May 1996, US West New Vector Group rebranded US West Cellular as AirTouch Cellular. * In April 1997, AirTouch tried to buy US West New Vector but missed the Morris Trust filing deadline by one day. * In February 1998, AirTouch Communications bought US West New Vector from US West Media for $5.7 billion. This made AirTouch the second largest wireless company in the US. * In January 1999, Vodafone bid $62 billion for AirTouch. * In June 1999, Vodafone Group Plc merged with AirTouch Communications, creating Vodafone Airtouch Plc. * In September 1999, Bell Atlantic and Vodafone Airtouch agreed to merge their U.S. wireless operations (Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular) to form Verizon Wireless. * In April 2000, Verizon Wireless began operations—the creation of the Verizon Wireless brand marked the end of the AirTouch brand. * In June, 2006, Verizon Wireless sold its paging division to American Messaging Services.

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 Communications Vodafone

History

Merger timeline

See also

References

External links