History
In September 1999, American phone company Bell Atlantic and British-based Vodafone Airtouch PLC proposed they would create a new wireless phone service joint venture valued at $70 billion.[10] The joint venture was being created as Bell Atlantic underwent a merger with GTE Corporation. In April 2000, the companies announced that the Bell Atlantic–GTE merger would take the name Verizon and that the Bell Atlantic–Vodafone wireless unit would be called Verizon Wireless (legally Cellco Partnership d.b.a. Verizon Wireless).[11] Verizon Communications owned 55 percent of Verizon Wireless while Vodafone retained 45 percent ownership.[12] Regulators with the Federal Communications Commission approved the Bell Atlantic–GTE merger on June 16, 2000,[13] creating the largest wireless company in the United States.[14] Verizon Wireless held this market position until Cingular Wireless acquired AT&T Wireless Services in 2004.[15]
Throughout the 2000s, Verizon acquired several wireless phone companies and assets across the country, including West Virginia Wireless in 2006;[16] Ramcell in 2007;[17] Rural Cellular Corporation[18] and SureWest Communications, both in 2008.[19] Also in 2008, Verizon struck a deal to buy Alltel for $5.9 billion in equity while assuming $22.2 billion worth of debt.[20][21] The deal was finalized on January 9, 2009, again making Verizon Wireless the country's largest cellphone network.[20] As per the agreement, Verizon sold rural wireless properties across 18 states to AT&T.
Majority owner Verizon Communications became sole owner of its wireless business in 2014, when it bought Vodafone's 45 percent stake.[25] Vodafone received $58.9 billion cash, $60.2 billion in stock and $11 billion in other consideration.[26][27] An article in The New York Times estimated Verizon Wireless' valuation at about $290 billion.[26]
In late 2014, it became known that Verizon Wireless uses deep packet inspection for server-side insertion of a customer-unique ID field ("X-UIDH") into all unencrypted HTTP headers. The mechanism has been referred to as a "supercookie" or "perma-cookie", although it is technically not a cookie in that it does not store information on the customers device and is transparent to the user. It cannot be averted with common mechanisms like ad-blockers; however it cannot be inserted into encrypted HTTPS and VPN connections. Verizon advertises the system to marketing partners. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has called on Verizon to terminate the program, calling it a "profound violation of trust", expressing concern over abuse by third parties, and questioning the legality of Verizon modifying their users' outgoing data without offering them the possibility of a full opt-out.[28][29][30][31][32] In January 2015, Verizon announced they would give customers the option of opting out, and since April 1, 2015, Verizon has allowed customers to opt-out, either online or by calling a special phone number.[33]
In August 2016, Verizon hired Ronan Dunne, the former head of British provider O2, as the new president of its wireless business.[34]
In September 2016, Comcast confirmed that it planned to launch a mobile service, using Verizon's network as an MVNO, in mid-2017.[35][36] In February 2017, in the wake of competition from Sprint and T-Mobile, and initiatives to expand the capacity and improve the quality of its network by using macrocells and supporting carrier aggregation, Verizon announced that it would bring back an "unlimited" data plan (subject to throttling in heavy network areas after 22 GB of usage). Verizon's decision not to restrict the bitrate of video services prompted Sprint and T-Mobile to remove similar restrictions from their own plans.[37]
In March 2017, Verizon announced that all their Android phones will have AppFlash, to help users find content and services across different apps.[38] Critics spoke harshly against it.[39]
In May 2018, former Verizon executive Miguel Quiroga launched the pre-paid carrier Visible in Denver Colorado, which Verizon funds and owns.[40][41]
On June 8, 2018, Verizon announced that Hans Vestberg had been chosen to become CEO on August 1, 2018.[42]
In August 2018, the fire department of Santa Clara County, California, filed evidence in a lawsuit seeking the reinstatement of net neutrality policies, which accused Verizon of throttling an "unlimited" wireless data plan associated with a vehicle that was being used to coordinate responses to the Mendocino Complex Fire. The department reported that a Verizon Wireless customer service representative insisted that they must upgrade to a higher-cost data plan in order to restore their internet speed. In a statement, Verizon acknowledged that they did not properly explain the terms of the contract, and that the representative did not adhere to a company policy of removing these restrictions during emergency situations.[43]
In 2019, Verizon Wireless services were split between two new divisions: Verizon Consumer and Verizon Business.[44][45] The name "Wireless" was extinguished, rebranding the mobile network as simply Verizon. Verizon still often abbreviates their name to "VZW", with the W standing for Wireless.
In 2020 Verizon launched a prepaid mobile phone service named '''Yahoo! Mobile'''[46] after acquiring a 10% interest in Yahoo!.[47] The service was shut down on August 31, 2021, in favor of Visible.[48][49]
On November 23, 2021, Verizon purchased TracFone Wireless which was worth an approximately $6.25 billion.[50]
On September 30, 2024, after a massive outage, Verizon confirmed that its cell service was back online.[51]
