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User:VZEric/Expansion draft

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2003–2010: Early expansion

[edit]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added Verizon Communications to its stock market index in April 2004.[1] Verizon replaced telecom competitor AT&T, which had been a part of the index since the Great Depression.[1]

Verizon launched its Fios Internet service, which transmits data over fiber optic cables, in Keller, Texas, in 2004.[2][3] The company launched Fios TV in September 2005, also in Keller. Twenty percent of qualified homes had signed up by the end of 2004.[4] By January 2006, Fios offered over 350 channels in eight states, including 20 high-definition television channels and video on demand.[4]

Beginning in 2005, Verizon reinforced its focus on its mobile phone, Internet, and TV businesses by selling a number of its U.S.-based wireline-focused businesses and international assets.[5] It sold 700,000 lines in Hawaii in 2005,[5][6] and spun off lines in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in January 2007, which were then purchased by FairPoint Communications for $2.72 billion.[5] Verizon also shed its telephone directory business in 2006.[7] In May 2009, the company spun off wirelines in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin into a company that then merged with Frontier Communications in a deal valued at $8.6 billion.[8][9] It sold its interests in telecommunications providers in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela América Móvil.[10] A decade later, it would continue moves to invest in wireless. In 2015, American Tower Corp. acquired the exclusive right to lease, acquire or otherwise operate and manage many of Verizon’s wireless towers for an upfront payment of $5.1 billion, which also included payment for the sale of approximately 165 towers. Verizon used the funds from this sale to support a $10.4 billion purchase of AWS-3 spectrum licenses at an FCC auction.[11] In 2016, Verizon sold its wireline operations in Texas, Florida, and California to Frontier.[12]

Verizon began negotiations in 2005 to purchase long-distance carrier MCI, who accepted the company's initial $6.75 billion offer in February but then received a higher offer from Qwest Communications. Verizon increased its bid to $7.6 billion (or $23.50 a share), which MCI accepted on March 29, 2005.[13] The acquisition gave the company access to MCI's million corporate clients and international holdings, expanding Verizon's presence into global markets.[13][14] As a result, Verizon Business was established as a new division to serve the company's business and government customers.[15] The FCC approved the deal on October 31, 2005, valuing it at $8.5 billion.[16] Verizon's 2006 revenues rose by as much as 20% following the purchase.[5]

USA Today reported in May 2006 that Verizon, as well as AT&T and BellSouth, had given the National Security Agency landline phone records following the September 11 attacks.[17][18] That same month, a $50 billion lawsuit was filed by two lawyers on behalf of all Verizon subscribers for privacy violations and to prevent the company from releasing additional records without consent or warrant.[17][18] Protesters staged the National Day of Out(R)age due in part to the controversy.[19] In 2007, Verizon stated that it fulfilled only "lawful demands" for information,[20] but also acknowledged surrendering customer information to government agencies without court orders or warrants 720 times between 2005 and 2007.[21]

Verizon won a lawsuit against Vonage for patent infringement in March 2007. The three patents named were filed by Bell Atlantic in 1997, and relate to the conversion of IP addresses into phone numbers, a key technology of Vonage's business.[22] The company was awarded US$58 million in damages and future royalties.[22] Vonage later lost an appeal and was ordered to pay Verizon $120 million.[23]

In May 2007, Verizon acquired Cybertrust, a privately held provider of global information security services.[24]

In September 2007, Verizon Wireless reversed a controversial decision to deny NARAL Pro-Choice America a short code through which the organization could text consumers who had signed up for messaging from the group. The company had initially refused the group access to a code by reserving the right to block "controversial or unsavory" messages.[25]

Verizon opened its networks to third party apps and devices for the first time in 2007,[26] a decision that allowed it to participate in the FCC's 2008 700 MHz auction of "open access" spectrum.[26][27] During that auction, the company bid $9.4 billion and won the bulk of national and local licenses for airwaves reaching approximately 469 million people.[27][28] Verizon utilized the increased spectrum for its 4G service.[27]

Verizon acquired Rural Cellular Corp. for $2.7 billion in cash and assumed debt in 2008.[29] That summer, Verizon announced it would purchase wireless carrier Alltel for $28.1 billion. The acquisition included 13 million customers, which allowed Verizon Wireless to surpass AT&T in number of customers and reach new markets in rural areas.[30]

4chan began receiving reports on February 4, 2010, from Verizon Wireless customers that were having difficulties accessing the site's image boards. Administrators of the site found that only traffic on port 80 to the boards.4chan.org domain was affected, leading them to believe the block was intentional. On February 7, 2010, Verizon Wireless confirmed that 4chan.org was "explicitly blocked"[31] after Verizon's security and external experts detected sweep attacks coming from an IP address associated with the 4chan network. Traffic was restored several days later.[32]

The chairmen of Verizon and Google agreed that network neutrality should be defined and limited in August 2010.[33][34]

In October 2010, Verizon Wireless paid $77.8 million in refunds and FCC penalties for overcharging 15 million customers for data services. The company stated the overcharges were accidental and only amounted to a few dollars per customer.[35][36]

Verizon introduced its 4G LTE network in 38 markets, as well as airports in seven additional cities in December 2010. The company planned on a three-year continuous expansion of the 4G service.[37]


References

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  1. ^ a b Isidore, Chris (April 1, 2004). "AT&T, Kodak, IP out of Dow AIG, Verizon, Pfizer are the newest additions to the world's most widely watched stock index". CNN Money. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  2. ^ Svensson, Peter (June 20, 2007). "Verizon signs up millionth FiOS customer". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
  3. ^ Charny, Ben (19 July 2004). "Verizon's fiber race is on". CNET. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  4. ^ a b Eckert, Barton (January 24, 2006). "Verizon FiOS TV service picks up Falls Church franchise". Washington Business Journal. Archived from the original on May 10, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d Harrison, Crayton (January 16, 2007). "Verizon Will Shed Phone Lines in Deal With FairPoint". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  6. ^ Sayer, Peter (July 27, 2005). "Verizon reports record revenue in second quarter". ARNnet. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  7. ^ Fuhrmann, Ryan (July 11, 2006). "Verizon Hangs Up on Directory Assistance". The Motley Fool. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  8. ^ Hansell, Saul (2009-05-13). "Frontier to Buy Verizon Lines for $8.5 Billion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
  9. ^ "Verizon sells landlines in 14 states to Frontier in $8.6B deal". ABC News. 2009-05-13. Archived from the original on May 31, 2015. Retrieved 2015-05-12.
  10. ^ Malkin, Elisabeth (April 4, 2006). "3 Verizon Caribbean Units Sold to Mexican Magnate". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  11. ^ Marek, Sue (February 5, 2015). "Verizon offloads towers to American Tower for $5B". FierceWireless. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  12. ^ "Frontier Weighs Sale of Ex-Verizon Landline Assets". Bloomberg. 2018-02-02. Archived from the original on May 21, 2018. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  13. ^ a b La Monica, Paul (March 29, 2005). "MCI accepts new $7.6B Verizon bid franchise". CNNMoney.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  14. ^ Ewalt, David (February 14, 2005). "Verizon To Acquire MCI For $6.8B". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  15. ^ Reardon, Marguerite (January 6, 2006). "Verizon closes book on MCI merger franchise". CNET. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  16. ^ "Verizon and SBC deals clear final U.S. hurdle". The New York Times. 2005-11-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
  17. ^ a b McNamara, Melissa (May 12, 2006). "Verizon Sued For Giving Records To NSA". CBS. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  18. ^ a b "Verizon stock takes hit on $50 billion lawsuit". CNNMoney.com. May 15, 2006. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  19. ^ McCullagh, Declan (May 24, 2006). "Protesters face off with Verizon, AT&T". CNET. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  20. ^ Lichtblau, Eric (2007-10-16). "Phone Utilities Won't Give Details About Eavesdropping". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
  21. ^ Nakashima, Ellen (October 16, 2007). "Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 25, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  22. ^ a b Barrett, Larry (October 25, 2007). "Vonage Settles With Verizon, Stock Soars". Internetnews.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  23. ^ St.Onge, Jeff (November 15, 2007). "Vonage's Appeal Refused; Verizon Owed $120 Million". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  24. ^ Duffy, Jim (2007-05-14). "Verizon Business acquires Cybertrust". Archived from the original on July 10, 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  25. ^ Liptak, Adam (September 27, 2007). "Verizon Reverses Itself on Abortion Messages". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  26. ^ a b Gardiner, Bryan (November 27, 2007). "Pigs Fly, Hell Freezes Over and Verizon Opens Up Its Network — No, Really". Gizmodo. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  27. ^ a b c Kaplan, Peter (April 4, 2008). "Verizon to use new spectrum for advanced wireless". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  28. ^ Gardiner, Bryan (March 20, 2008). "In Spectrum Auction, Winners Are AT&T, Verizon and Openness". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on November 28, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  29. ^ Ross, Grant. "Verizon Wireless to Acquire Rural Cellular". ABC News. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  30. ^ Carew, Sinead (June 6, 2008). "Verizon Wireless to buy Alltel". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  31. ^ Moot (February 7, 2010). "Verizon Wireless confirms block". 4chan.org.
  32. ^ Verizon Wireless restores 4Chan traffic Archived October 21, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Wireless Federation, United Kingdom, 2010-02-10, accessed 2010-02-12, "After the concerns were raised over network attacks, Verizon Wireless restored traffic affiliated with the 4chan online forum."
  33. ^ Shields, Todd (2010-08-12). "Bloomberg.com". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  34. ^ Matt Schafer (August 9, 2010). "Five Sentences from Google/Verizon that Could Change the Net Forever". Lippmannwouldroll.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010. Despite Google and Verizon's claims to support an open Internet, the two-page policy proposal removes any hope of moving forward with the open Internet as we know it.
  35. ^ Woolley, Scott (October 4, 2010). "Verizon's refund is just the start of a shakeup in wireless". Fortune. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  36. ^ Kang, Cecilia (October 28, 2010). "Verizon Wireless pays FCC $25M for years of false data charges". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on September 2, 2013. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  37. ^ Reardon, Marguerite (December 1, 2010). "Verizon: 4G Wireless Service Debuts this Sunday". CBS. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
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