Verizon Communications Inc. is the US's largest provider of mobile and telephone services. It has its roots in the original Bell system and is one of only 3 “baby Bells” to exist today. The company was spun off from the original Bell network as Bell Atlantic when it was split into 7 companies in 1984. The original home range was from New Jersey to Virginia but, ironically, shortly after the split the baby bells, including Bell Atlantic, began to merge together in order to expand their territories.
Bell Atlantic acquired NYNEX, another baby Bell, in a move that expanded operations into New York and New England. MCI was also added, expanding the long-distance services, then the company acquired until-then independent operator GTE and became a national carrier. The company changed its name to Verizon following the GTE merger and it is a blend of the Latin word veritas which means Truth and Horizon.
Over the years, Verizon has expanded its territory and its offerings to include mobile, internet and entertainment. Among the more notable were the purchase and merging of AOL and Yahoo! which were later spun off in a sale to Apollo Global Management. Among the more important changes the company has made was to sell off its land-based wirelines. Verizon began selling off its land-based wirelines in 2005 in order to focus more fully on mobile and Internet technology.
Today, Verizon offers communications, information technology, and entertainment products to consumers globally. The company operates in 2 key segments that include Consumer and Business. The Consumer segment provides wireless connectivity, internet access for mobile devices, and wireless and mobile devices including those for the IoT. As of the end of the year 2021, the company laid claim to more than 143 million retail subscribers and was the largest mobile provider by almost 30%.
The Business segment provides connectivity at the enterprise level that includes mobile, networking, Internet access, VOIP and video, security and IoT. As of 2021, this segment had more than 27 million wireless and 477,000 broadband connections. Both the Consumer and Business segments are being upgraded to the 5G protocol. At the end of 2022 more than 175 million users were covered by the service.
Verizon is the US's 24th largest company by revenue and a member of both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company has paid a dividend every quarter since it went public in 2000 and had increased the payment for 18 consecutive years as of 2022.