Industry Telecommunications Founded 1926 | Website Verizon – Texas | |
Trading name Frontier Communications of Texas Formerly called State Telephone Company of Texas
Southwestern Associated Telephone Company
General Telephone Company of the Southwest
GTE Southwest Incorporated Type Private (Subsidiary of Frontier) Products Local Telephone Service Headquarters Irving, Texas, United States Parent organizations GTE, Frontier Communications | ||
Frontier Southwest Incorporated is a Frontier Communications operating company in Texas. At its peak, Frontier Southwest served Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.
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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.
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 closed in the first half of 2016.
Following the sale, GTE Southwest was renamed Frontier Southwest Incorporated and began doing business under the name Frontier Communications of Texas.