Frontier California, Inc. is a

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 ...

-owned operating company providing telephone service in former

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 in ...

regions. This included

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

cities such as

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

Seal Beach Seal Beach is a coastal city in Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,242, up from 24,168 at the 2010 census. Seal Beach is located in the westernmost corner of Orange County. To the northwest ...

, Lakewood, Norwalk and

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

History

GTE was originally the largest non-

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 ...

telephone company, and the number-two telephone service provider in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It entered California by acquiring the Associated Telephone Company in 1926. It would later merge with Western Utilities Corporation and its affiliates in 1964; the number-three (non-Bell System) provider,

Continental Telephone ConTel Corporation (Continental Telephone) was the third largest independent phone company in the United States prior to the 1996 telecom deregulation. It was acquired by GTE in 1991. History In 1980, Contel purchased Network Analysis Corp, the ...

(ConTel), in 1991; and former Bell System member

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 ...

in 2000. GTE was made up of many small "

mom and pop ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...

" telephone companies that had been purchased to form the General Telephone System, this led the

California Public Utilities Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In additi ...

, in the mid-1960s to proclaim GTE "the worst telephone company in California, bar none." However, in the years following the report, GTE replaced most of its switching equipment, and much of its plant in Southern California. This led to a higher level of service compared to

Pacific Bell The Pacific Bell Telephone Company (Pacific Bell or Pac Bell) is a telephone company that provides telephone service in California. The company is owned by AT&T through AT&T Teleholdings, and, though separate, is now marketed as “AT&T”. The ...

. When the 213 area code was being split into 213 and

310 __NOTOC__ Year 310 ( CCCX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Andronicus and Probus (or, less frequently, year 1063 '' ...

, then the manager of the 213 area code, chose to split the 213 area code in such a fashion that every single prefix that served a GTE customer was moved into the new 310 area code, while many of Pacific Bell's customers remained in the 213 area code. GTE California completed the transition from mechanical to electronic switching by 1992. In the 1990s, GTE California underwent several changes. In 1993, GTE purchased ConTel. Its subsidiary ConTel of California, Inc., which also served parts of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, was absorbed into GTE California. In 2000, GTE was purchased by Bell Atlantic, becoming

. GTE California was then renamed "Verizon California, Inc." In 2010, operations in Arizona, Nevada, and some of California (mostly in areas near state borders), including some former Contel of California regions, were sold to

, becoming Frontier Communications of the Southwest. In April 2020, Frontier Communications filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors. Frontier lists a total debt of $21.9 billion.

Sale to Frontier

On February 5, 2015, Verizon Communications announced a sale of its remaining wired telecom operations in

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 ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Verizon California is included in the sale. The transaction closed in the first half of 2016. Verizon California transitioned to Frontier Communications on April 1, 2016.

Sources

FCC History: Verizon California, Inc.

References

External links

Official Frontier Communications website
{{Frontier Frontier Communications Communications in California Telecommunications companies of the United States Technology companies based in Greater Los Angeles Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Mass media in Los Angeles Telecommunications companies established in 1929 1929 establishments in California