Advanced Mobile Phone Service, Inc. was a subsidiary of

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

prior to the Bell System Divestiture. Abbreviated AMPS, the company was created in 1978 to build and operate the new

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 ...

, also abbreviated AMPS. AMPS was developed by

Bell Labs Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as ''Bell Labs'', is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey, the compa ...

to replace older, severely limited

radiophone A radiotelephone (or radiophone), abbreviated RT, is a radio communication system for conducting a conversation; radiotelephony means telephony by radio. It is in contrast to ''radiotelegraphy'', which is radio transmission of telegrams (messag ...

services, such as IMTS. AMPS was one of first providers of cellular phone service, starting in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on October 13, 1983, and in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, area December 1983. After divestiture, AMPS was divided among the 7 newly created Regional Holding Companies, now known as

RBOC 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 1 ...

s: * NYNEX Mobile Communications *

Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems 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 ...

* Ameritech Mobile Communications * BellSouth Mobility * PacTel Mobile Access * Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems *

U S West NewVector U, or u, is the twenty-first letter and the fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pronounced ) ...

Evolution of Successor Companies

Through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and re-consolidation among the Baby Bells, these 7 original mobile operating companies are now split as such - * AT&T Mobility ** Ameritech Mobile Communications ** BellSouth Mobility ** Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems * Verizon Wireless **

** NYNEX Mobile Communications **

AirTouch AirTouch Communications, Inc. was an American Mobile phone, wireless telephone service provider, created as a Corporate spin-off, spin-off of Pacific Telesis on April 1, 1994. Its headquarters were located in the One California building in the F ...

*** PacTel Mobile Access ***

U S WEST NewVector U, or u, is the twenty-first letter and the fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pronounced ) ...

PacTel Mobile Access and U S WEST NewVector are owned by Verizon Wireless due to its co-ownership by

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 ...

. PacTel Mobile Access was spun off into

in 1994, and U S WEST NewVector was spun off and merged into AirTouch in 1997. AirTouch was then acquired by Vodafone in 1999. Bell Atlantic and Vodafone combined their wireless operations to form Verizon Wireless in 2000. Ameritech's

n/w was divested and sold to GTE Wireless in 1999 as a condition of the former's merger with SBC Communications. In 2000, Bell Atlantic bought GTE and changed its name to Verizon Communications; at that point, GTE Wireless became part of Verizon Wireless.

References

AT&T History
{{Bell System Bell System Defunct mobile phone companies of the United States Telecommunications companies established in 1978 Technology companies disestablished in 1984