GTE Southwest

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GTE Southwest Incorporated
Verizon Southwest
Formerly called
State Telephone Company of Texas
Southwestern Associated Telephone Company
General Telephone Company of the Southwest
Private company (Subsidiary of Verizon)
Industry Telecommunications
Founded 1926
Headquarters Irving, Texas, USA[1]
Key people
Michelle A. Robinson, President
Products Local Telephone Service
Parent GTE (until 2000)
Verizon (2000–present)
Website Verizon – Texas

GTE Southwest Incorporated is a Verizon operating company in Texas. At its peak, GTE Southwest served Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

History

Its original name upon founding was State Telephone Company of Texas. It later changed its name to Southwestern Associated Telephone Company, and General Telephone Company of the Southwest.

In 1996, Contel of New Mexico and Contel of Texas were merged into GTE Southwest.

Fragmentation

In 1999, GTE announced that it was going to sell 1.3 million access lines. GTE agreed to sell 400,000 lines in New Mexico and lines in rural areas of Texas to a company called dba Communications.[2]

In 2000, Bell Atlantic purchased GTE and renamed itself Verizon. Shortly thereafter, the pending sale of GTE Southwest's operations to Valor Telecom was completed. GTE Southwest's Arkansas operations in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma were sold to CenturyTel to become CenturyTel of Northwest Arkansas (GTE's operations in Arkansas were completely sold off). GTE Southwest retained its name and operations in more populated areas of Texas.

GTE Southwest is the only former GTE operating company that has not changed its official legal name under Verizon ownership.

Sale to Frontier

On February 5, 2015, Verizon Communications announced a sale of its wired telecom operations in California, Florida, and Texas to Frontier Communications. GTE Southwest is included in the sale. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2016.[3]

Sources

References