formerly called the chesapeake and potomac telephone company of west virginia 1917 1994 bell atlantic west virginia inc. 1994 2000 verizon west virginia inc. 2000 2010 type subsidiary of frontier industry telecommunications predecessor c & p telephone of maryland southern bell founded 1917 headquarters charleston wv usa area served west virginia products local telephone service parent at & t 1917 1983 bell atlantic verizon 1984 2010 frontier 2010 present website www.frontier.com westvirginia frontier west virginia inc. is one of the original bell operating companies and provides local telephone service in the u.s. state of west virginia . contents 1 history 1.1 bell atlantic ownership 1.2 name changes 1.3 sale to frontier 2 unique 3 see also 4 references history edit c & p telephone of wv logo 1964 1969 the chesapeake and potomac telephone company of west virginia originally part of the bell system was founded on january 1 1917 . c & p of wv took over telephone operations in west virginia being served by central district and printing telegraph company southern bell and the chesapeake and potomac telephone company of maryland . dial service was first introduced by c & p of west virginia in 1925 to the huntington central office . bell atlantic ownership edit in 1984 the chesapeake and potomac telephone company of west virginia became a holding of bell atlantic upon the divestiture of the bell system by at & t. charleston became the first city in the united states to have a choice of long distance companies . by dialing 1 plus the area code and number they could choose their long distance carrier . charleston was the nation s first test market for the service allowing 34 000 customers to choose from one of eight long distance companies serving the area . c & p telephone logo 1984 1994 c & p telephone co. of wv was the last bell atlantic company to provide party line telephone service . the last party line was converted to private line service on october 30 1989 . in 1993 c & p telephone of west virginia took its last analog switch out of service becoming the first bell operating company to have 100 % digital switching 1 name changes edit in 1994 bell atlantic standardized all of its bell operating company names resulting in c & p telephone of west virginia being renamed bell atlantic west virginia inc. in 2000 upon its purchase of gte bell atlantic became verizon communications resulting in the new name verizon west virginia inc. sale to frontier edit on july 1 2010 verizon spun off new communications holdings inc. and its holding company new communications ilec holdings to verizon shareholders which then merged with frontier communications . included in the sale was verizon west virginia among other select verizon landline properties which became frontier west virginia inc. 2 the company operates separately from citizens telecommunications company of west virginia the existing frontier provider in the state . even though frontier communications is not a baby bell the fcc determined that frontier west virginia is successor to laws imposed during its time as c & p telephone of west virginia ; therefore it is still responsible to uphold obligations expected of bell operating companies outlined in the telecommunications act of 1996 . 3 unique edit frontier west virginia was the first bell operating company to have been completely divested by a baby bell and sold to a non baby bell . some historically bell local access lines have been sold to non baby bells over the years by bellsouth us west and verizon ; however the bell operating companies from which those exchanges were split have remained in existence with the baby bells . at & t announced on december 17 2013 that it plans to sell southern new england telephone to frontier communications . 4 although snet is not legally defined as a bell operating company since it was not majority owned by the original at & t it is an original member of the bell system and will share common affiliation with frontier west virginia via ownership by frontier for the first time since 1983 . see also edit c & p telephone citizens telecommunications company of west virginia references edit verizon west virginia history frontier requested legal names and codes june 15 2010 2010 05 28 . verizon and frontier win fcc approval of transfer of 4.8 million lines ; approval subject to certain conditions garvey schubert barer law firm . retrieved 2012 06 05 . 1 v t e frontier communications corporation operating companies citizens telecommunications company of california citizens telecommunications company of idaho citizens telecommunications company of illinois citizens telecommunications company of minnesota citizens telecommunications company of montana citizens telecommunications company of new york citizens telecommunications company of nebraska citizens telecommunications company of nevada citizens telecommunications company of oregon citizens telecommunications company of tennessee citizens telecommunications company of the volunteer state citizens telecommunications company of the white mountains citizens telecommunications of utah citizens telecommunications company of west virginia citizens utilities rural frontier california frontier communications northwest frontier communications of breezewood frontier communications of mondovi frontier communications of the carolinas frontier communications of the southwest frontier communications of virginia frontier florida frontier midstates frontier north frontier southwest frontier telephone of rochester frontier west virginia navajo communications ogden telephone rhinelander telephone southern new england telephone long distance internet services frontier communications of america frontier communications online and long distance snet america v t e bell system parent company american telephone and telegraph company local telephone companies still extant wholly owned bell telephone company of nevada the bell telephone company of pennsylvania the chesapeake & potomac telephone company the chesapeake & potomac telephone company of maryland the chesapeake & potomac telephone company of west virginia the chesapeake & potomac telephone company of virginia diamond state telephone illinois bell indiana bell michigan bell mountain bell new england telephone new jersey bell new york telephone northwestern bell ohio bell pacific northwest bell pacific telephone south central bell southern bell southwestern bell wisconsin telephone partially owned southern new england telephone cincinnati bell other subsidiaries manufacturing western electric research bell labs long distance long lines wireless advanced mobile phone service regional bell companies bell canada 1880 1975 historical commemorative alexander graham bell national historic site bell boatyard bell homestead national historic site bell telephone memorial telephone pioneers of america spirit of communication defunct bell telephone company new england telephone and telegraph company international bell telephone company the bell telephone company of canada northern electric bell telephone manufacturing company at & t technologies inc. related topics divestiture regional bell operating company retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title frontier west virginia & oldid 706144254 categories frontier communicationsbell systemtelecommunications companies of the united stateshistory of telecommunications in the united statescompanies established in 1917communications in west virginia1917 establishments in west virginia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 21 february 2016 at 18 47 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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