This article or section should include material from Bell Atlantic

This article or section should include material from GTE

Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ (http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata.html?ticker=VZ)) is a local exchange telephone company formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic, a former Bell Operating Company, and GTE, which was the largest independant local exchange telephone company in the US, with presence in most all of the continental United States and Hawaii. The company has its headquarters in New York City.

Verizon shares were made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April 8, 2004 [1] (http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/01/markets/dow/). Verizon currently has 140.3 million land lines in service. It also has more than 16 million long distance customers. As of 2003, it has more than 203,000 employees. Verizon serves customers throughout much of the United States. The states that it provides service to include California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon and Vodafone in which Verizon owns a majority interest, is the number two in number of customers but the largest in terms of revenue for mobile phone service provider in the United States.

Verizon is currently in the process of deploying and testing FTTP (Fiber To The Premises) to some subscribers. This service provided by Verizon is entitled "FiOS," and is planned to offer three package levels: 5 Mbit/s downstream / 2 Mbit/s upstream, 15 Mbit/s downstream /2 Mbit/s upstream, and 30 Mbit/s downstream / 5 Mbit/s upstream. More information can be found at the Verizon Fios Internet Service (http://www.verizon.net/fios/) website.

External link

• Verizon Communications (http://www.verizon.com)
• Verizon Fios Internet Service (http://www.verizon.net/fios/)