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Verizon sold landline infrastructure.

Started by Dan/Panther, April 12, 2015, 11:49:17 PM

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Dan/Panther

I was talking to a guy from our local Electric Co-op, that was promoting the Co-Op's venture into Fiber Optics Internet system. He was saying that a Company, I THINK he said "Frontier", that may be wrong, but He said Verizon had sold all of their interests in Landline technology, in California, Florida, and Texas, to that company. He said, He felt sorry for them because it's a dead technology. Does anyone have any more info on the actual details. I'm sure I'm way off on the name, but that it was is stuck in my mind.

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

Phonesrfun

I don't know about CA, FL and TX, but in Oregon and Washington, I think VZ sold their landline business to Frontier 3 or 4 years ago.  However, I thought their FIOS went with the deal.
-Bill G

compubit

Back in 2009 Verizon sold off landline service in 14 or so states (former GTE properties), and it looks like they're pulling out of Florida, Texas and California (more old GTE territory). It appears the company is focusng on wireless nationwide and wired only in the states along the I-95 corridor from Virginia north.  Frontier will probably be the big behemoth in wired service - and I suspect they'lol focus on Fios-type of expansion, since Verizon dropped it's expansion outside the original Bell Atlantic/NYNEX states...

Jim
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!

Greg G.

Doesn't Verizon own CenturyLink, or vice-versa?  Our landline (in western Washington state) is through CenturyLink.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

compubit

Not sure, but do know that CenturyLink bought Qwest (former USWest Baby Bell former Mountain States Telephone/Northwestern Bell/Pacific Northwest Bell). If the territory was formerly GTE, then there may have been a territory swap along the way.

Jim
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!

Fabius

Quote from: Brinybay on April 13, 2015, 12:07:11 AM
Doesn't Verizon own CenturyLink, or vice-versa?  Our landline (in western Washington state) is through CenturyLink.

CenturyLink is the former Century Telephone (CENTEL) As far as I know it's not owned by another company. It's stock is listed on the NYSE. It is a 20 billion dollar company. In comparison Verizon is ten times larger being at 200 billion market cap, bigger then AT&T, Ford, GM, Intel, Amazon, etc.
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

Tonyrotary

#6
Actually I thought AT&T was larger than Verizon when you also included landlines customers of them both? And wouldn't now that Verizon is selling off their landlines, AT&T would surely be the largest? I know Verizon was the largest of mobile phones but AT&T was the largest landline provider and second largest mobile provider

savageje

Maybe slightly OT, but I wonder how much of a future there is in traditional landline service. It seems like the LECs keep trading territories, selling off, consolidating, etc. It is sad to think about, but I wonder how well the "tradional" CO and wireline infrastructure will be maintained in the coming years. Seems like everything is moving to VoIP over fiber, coax, or wireless.

Tonyrotary

I wonder too when landlines will go away. At least the landlines we are familiar with.

Fabius

Quote from: Tonyrotary on April 13, 2015, 11:27:44 AM
Actually I thought AT&T was larger than Verizon when you also included landlines customers of them both?

According to Yahoo Finance at&t is a 171.1 billion dollar company and Verizon is at 204.74 billion. Keep in mind this is not a count of land lines, cell customers etc but a dollar value of the company.

Sucks, at&t can't even afford capital letters anymore for their name.
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

Fabius

Quote from: Tonyrotary on April 13, 2015, 01:41:31 PM
I wonder too when landlines will go away. At least the landlines we are familiar with.

I think there will be land lines for a while yet. At least until cell phone become more reliable.
Tom Vaughn
La Porte, Indiana
ATCA Past President
ATCA #765
C*NET 1+ 821-9905

Greg G.

CenturyLink offers "bundling" with Verizon, that's where I was confused because my Verizon cell bill is bundled with my CenturyLink landline.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

Partyline4

Quote from: Fabius on April 13, 2015, 01:58:01 PM
Quote from: Tonyrotary on April 13, 2015, 01:41:31 PM
I wonder too when landlines will go away. At least the landlines we are familiar with.

I think there will be land lines for a while yet. At least until cell phone become more reliable.

A reliable cell phone is not something of fiction.

I remember back when the POTS was broadcast over the airwaves, the first cell phones,  and you could get a dialtone from ANYWHERE!

They couldn't handle a lot of traffic, but boy were they reliable!


I wish they would bring that back.....


It was expensive though...

G-Man

#13
It was announced during the first part of February on the TCI List:
122795
Re: California Verizon wireline/ Verizon Wireline Network Assets

       
  • Feb 7  According to McAdams one of the reasons they decided to sell was based on potential new government regulations. The owners of small telcos have complained to me that already, the compliance required by governmental regulatory agencies is extremely costly in terms of the man-hours cost and outside FCC attorney and consulting fees. A number of years ago the owner of one such company (400-lines+/-) told me he had proposed to AT&T that both companies give away toll calls since the associated governmental accounting and compliance cost were near or exceeded the actual revenues. AT&T declined.
Verizon's McAdam: FCC Title II proposal influenced $10.5B wireline asset sale to Frontier 

       
  • February 6, 2015 | By Sean Buckley
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) finally made it public that is selling its wireline assets in three states to Frontier for $10.5 billion, but besides getting more cash to fund its wireless operations, its decision was also influenced by the FCC's move to reclassify wireline broadband providers under Title II of the 1996 Telecom Act.
Speaking to investors and reporters about the new deal, Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon, said that the Title II proposal and associated regulatory uncertainty was a big factor.
"An important consideration was the current regulatory uncertainty and the potential impacts on future investments of a reclassification of broadband under Title II," McAdam said.
Earlier this week, the FCC signaled that its new net neutrality rules will reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act.
Verizon has been one of the staunchest critics of Wheeler's Title II proposals, arguing that it is "counterproductive because heavy regulation of the Internet will create uncertainty and chill investment among the many players."
For its part, the FCC claims that its proposal to reclassify broadband Internet access under Title II has the legal footing it needs to withstand any legal challenges that telcos like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) plan to launch once the rules come out.
Verizon intimated in January that it was looking to sell off some of its wireline assets as it looks to sharpen its focus on the wireless business, which it says is poised for more growth. At the same time, the wireless business is not unionized and is not as heavily regulated as the wireline services it offers. Verizon's wireless business makes up nearly 69 percent of its $127 billion in annual revenue.