It has been suggested that Verizon Select Services and Verizon Long Distance be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since April 2012.

Verizon Communications Inc.

Type	Cross-listed Public company
Traded as	NYSE: VZ NASDAQ: VZ[1] BMV: VZ LSE: VZC Euronext: VERIZ FWB: BAC Dow Jones Industrial Average Component S&P 500 Component
Industry	Telecommunications
Predecessor(s)	American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Founded	October 7, 1983 (as Bell Atlantic)[2]
Headquarters	Verizon Building New York City, New York, United States
Key people	Lowell McAdam (Chairman, President and CEO)
Services	Fixed-line and mobile telephony, broadband and fixed-line internet services, digital television and network services
Revenue	US$ 110.875 billion (2011)[3]
Operating income	US$ 12.880 billion (2011)[4]
Net income	US$ 10.217 billion (2010)[4]
Total assets	US$ 230.461 billion (2011)[4]
Total equity	US$ 86.912 billion (2010)[4]
Employees	194,400 (2010)[4]
Divisions	Verizon New England Verizon New York Verizon Delaware Verizon New Jersey Verizon Pennsylvania Verizon North Verizon Maryland Verizon Washington, D.C. Verizon Virginia Verizon California
Subsidiaries	Cellco Partnership (Verizon Wireless) (55%) GTE MCI Inc. NYNEX Diamond State Telephone New Jersey Bell Bell of Pennsylvania Verizon North The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company Verizon California Terremark Vodafone Italy (23.14%)
Website	www.verizon.com

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ, NASDAQ: VZ^[1]) (branded as Verizon/vərˈaɪzən/) is a global broadband and telecommunications company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.^[5] It started in 1983 as Bell Atlantic (based in New York City)^[6] with a footprint covering New Jersey to Virginia and emerged as part of the 1984 AT&T breakup into seven "Baby Bells." In 1997, Bell Atlantic merged with another Regional Bell Operating Company, NYNEX, based in New York City with a footprint spanning from New York to Maine. The combined company kept the Bell Atlantic name. In 2000, Bell Atlantic acquired former independent phone company GTE, and adopted the name "Verizon", a portmanteau of veritas and horizon.^[7] The company's headquarters are located in the Verizon Building at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City.^[8]

History[link]

AT&T breakup and NYNEX acquisition[link]

Verizon was founded as Bell Atlantic Corporation. It was one of the seven "Baby Bells" that were formed as a result of the anti-trust judgment against the American Telephone & Telegraph Company. Bell Atlantic then inherited seven of the Bell Operating Companies from AT&T (later known as AT&T Corporation) following its breakup. Bell Atlantic's original roster of operating companies included:

• The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania
• New Jersey Bell Telephone Company
• The Diamond State Telephone Company
• The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company
• The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland
• The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia
• The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of West Virginia

Bell Atlantic originally operated in the U.S. states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C.

In 1994, Bell Atlantic became the first Regional Bell Operating Company to entirely drop the original names of its original operating companies. Operating company titles were simplified to "Bell Atlantic - state name".

In 1996, CEO and Chairman Raymond W. Smith orchestrated Bell Atlantic's merger with NYNEX CEO Ivan G. Seidenberg. When it merged, it moved its corporate headquarters from Philadelphia to New York City where CEO's Smith and Seidenberg shared Co-CEO duties. NYNEX was consolidated into this name by 1997.

Prior to its merger with GTE, Bell Atlantic traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the "BEL" symbol.

[edit] Verizon Wireless formation and GTE merger

On September 21, 1999, Bell Atlantic and UK-based Vodafone AirTouch Plc (now Vodafone Group Plc) announced that they had agreed to create a new wireless business with a national footprint, a single brand and a common digital technology – composed of Bell Atlantic's and Vodafone's U.S. wireless assets (Bell Atlantic Mobile (which was previously called Bell Atlantic-NYNEX Mobile by 1997), AirTouch Cellular, PrimeCo Personal Communications, and AirTouch Paging). This wireless joint venture received regulatory approval in six months, and began operations as Verizon Wireless on April 4, 2000, kicking off the new "Verizon" brand name.

Bell Atlantic acquired GTE on June 30, 2000 and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. It was among the largest mergers in United States business history. It was the result of a definitive merger agreement, dated July 27, 1998, between Bell Atlantic, based in New York City since the merger with NYNEX in 1996, and GTE, which was in the process of moving its headquarters from Stamford, Connecticut, to Irving, Texas.

The Bell Atlantic–GTE merger, priced at more than $52 billion at the time of the announcement, closed nearly two years later, following analysis and approvals by Bell Atlantic and GTE shareowners, 27 state regulatory commissions and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and clearance from the United States Department of Justice and various international agencies.

The merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, to form Verizon Communications, became effective on June 30, 2000. Verizon began trading on the NYSE under its new "VZ" symbol on Monday, July 3, 2000. GTE's wireless operations became part of Verizon Wireless – creating what was initially the nation's largest wireless company before Cingular Wireless acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004 – when the Bell Atlantic–GTE merger closed nearly three months later. Verizon then became the majority owner (55%) of Verizon Wireless.

Bell Atlantic's CEO Ivan Seidenberg and GTE's Charles Lee were co-CEO's from 2000 to 2002 when Seidenberg became sole CEO, a position he held until July 2011 when he was succeeded by Lowell McAdam.^[9]

Verizon shares were made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April 8, 2004.^[10] Verizon currently has 140.3 million land lines in service. With the MCI merger, it has more than 250,000 employees. Verizon serves customers throughout much of the United States.

In late 2004, Verizon sold its 20.5% stake in Telus, a Canadian telecom. This was so that they could focus more on its own services. The stake came from GTE, which held stocks in BCTel, a Telus predecessor.^[11]

MCI acquisition[link]

On February 14, 2005, Verizon agreed to acquire MCI Inc., formerly WorldCom, after fellow "Baby Bell" SBC Communications agreed to acquire former parent AT&T Corporation just a few weeks earlier. (That combined company took the AT&T name.)

Media coverage has focused on several ways in which that acquisition, once completed, would benefit Verizon, including economies of scale derived from a potential productivity boost to be achieved via the elimination of thousands of jobs at the combined company, and access to the large base of business customers currently served by MCI. The real benefit to Verizon was the acquisition of long-haul lines. The bulk of Verizon's business is concentrated in the eastern United States. This not only renders the company, effectively, a regional phone company, but also forced it to pay usage fees to long-haul carriers, such as the former MCI and AT&T, to complete calls for its customers whenever those calls go outside the Verizon "footprint". That need is obviated by the MCI acquisition and was key in the long term market position strategy. By January 6, 2006, MCI was incorporated into Verizon with the name Verizon Business.

Verizon, with MCI, was the largest telecommunications company in the United States based on sales of $75.11 billion, profits of $7.4 billion and assets of $168.13 billion. After its acquisition of BellSouth, AT&T became the largest telecommunications company in the world in terms of assets and profits.^[12]

Divestitures[link]

Due to the rigorous climate and high costs, GTE Alaska was sold to Alaska Power and Telephone Company rather than be included in the Verizon merger.

In 2002, Verizon sold GTE's former telephone operations in 3 states: Missouri and Alabama operations were sold to CenturyTel, which acquired Embarq in 2009 and became CenturyLink, and Kentucky operations were sold to Alltel, which later spun off its landline operations as Windstream. In 2005, Verizon sold off GTE's former telephone operations in Hawaii to The Carlyle Group, This operation is now known as Hawaiian Telcom.

On April 3, 2006 Verizon agreed to sell its stakes in Verizon Dominicana (operating in the Dominican Republic), CANTV of Venezuela, and Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Inc. (PRT) in Puerto Rico to Telmex and América Móvil for $3.7 billion.^[13]

On January 16, 2007, Verizon New England operations in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont were spun off, and merged with FairPoint Communications, a deal which was finalized on April 1, 2008.

On May 13, 2009, Verizon announced it was selling all of Verizon's wireline assets in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin as well as some assets in California to Frontier Communications. These assets include Contel of the South, Verizon North, Verizon Northwest, Verizon West Coast, Verizon West Virginia, and two new companies created for spinoff, New Communications of the Carolinas and New Communications of the Southwest.^[14] On July 1, 2010, the transfer of these assets to Frontier took place.^[15]

Impact of changes in telephony[link]

The transition from land wire-based telephony to wireless communications has been a major change driver for all vendors in the telephony space, including Verizon. As of August 2011^[update], the profitability of the company's "wireline" business had slipped substantially below that of its mobile division and continued to degrade, a situation reflected in and used to directly support downward revisions to "wireline" worker compensation, potentially impacting on the order of 45,000 workers in the United States.^[16]

Operations[link]

South face of the Verizon Building, the headquarters of Verizon, in 2005, with 7 World Trade Center to the right.

As a result of the various mergers and spin-offs, as of 2011, Verizon provides local landline services in 11 states and the District of Columbia through the following operating companies:

• GTE Southwest, Inc. – Operations in Texas inherited from GTE
• Verizon California, Inc. - Operations inherited from GTE
• Verizon Delaware LLC
• Verizon Florida LLC - Operations inherited from GTE
• Verizon Maryland, Inc.
• Verizon New England, Inc. – Operations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
• Verizon New Jersey, Inc.
• Verizon New York, Inc. – Also serves a portion of southwestern Connecticut
• Verizon North LLC – Operations in Pennsylvania inherited from GTE
• Verizon Pennsylvania, Inc.
• Verizon South, Inc. – Operations in Virginia inherited from GTE
• Verizon Virginia, Inc.
• Verizon Washington, D.C., Inc.

Products and services[link]

Verizon service van

Fixed-line Voice[link]

As of 2012, Verizon is the second-largest fixed telephony provider in the United States.^[17] Verizon provides several different types of land line telephone services — standard POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) service as well as VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) and optical fiber line services. In addition, Verizon offers long distance services. Verizon also offers a product that is a joint venture with Microsoft called "Verizon Web Calling", a type of VoIP service used within Windows Live Messenger. See also Iobi.

Voice Messaging service is included.

Fixed-line Data[link]

Verizon provides High Speed Internet DSL Internet service in many areas where it offers phone service. DSL is offered in various speeds ranging from 768 kbit/s to 15 Mbit/s download, depending on what the local infrastructure can support.

Verizon began offering FTTP (Fiber to the Premises, or Fiber to the Home) to some subscribers in 2006. Verizon markets this service under the name "FiOS".^[18] It supports speeds up to 150/35 Mbit/s.^[19]

Verizon VoiceWing[link]

Verizon VoiceWing is a Voice over IP (VoIP) service offered by Deltathree and resold by Verizon^[20] that offers phone service over a broadband Internet connection. A DSL, cable, or Verizon FiOS Internet connection, a regular telephone, a router, and a telephone adaptor are required for service. On March 31, 2009, Verizon terminated VoiceWing service for all existing subscribers.

Fixed-line Television[link]

Verizon launched its FiOS Video service in Keller, Texas on September 22, 2005. FiOS TV^[21] uses an optical fiber network to deliver more than 500 total channels, more than 180 digital music channels, more than 95 high-definition channels, and 10,000 video-on-demand titles. Verizon also partners with DirecTV service as well to offer pay-TV services.

It was reported that on February 6 Verizon Communications formed a joint venture with Coinstar Inc., to offer a video streaming service. It will be available to anyone in the U.S with a broadband-Internet connection.^[22]

Wireless Voice & Data[link]

Verizon Wireless is, as of September 2011, the largest wireless carrier in the United States based on number of subscribers. It is a joint venture of Verizon Communications which owns 55 percent of the venture, and British-based Vodafone plc which owns 45 percent.

Directory operations[link]

The Yellow Pages business of Verizon is known as SuperPages, and is a Texas-based sales, publishing and related services with 1,200 directory titles and a circulation of about 121 million copies in 41 states. The web site receives approximately 17 million visitors a month. It had an operating revenue of $3.6 billion in 2004 and employs 7,300 nationwide.^[23] In a move to leverage against higher traffic sites, Superpages linked up with Google to provide search advertising services to its millions of listed businesses. SuperPages will offer its advertisers the ability to bid for Google search terms.^[24]

With an estimated $17 billion in assets, Verizon has spun off the business unit to finance its expansion in wireless and high-speed Internet services.^[25] Verizon is not the first Baby Bell to rid itself of its directory publishing operations; Qwest sold off its QwestDex directory services to become Dex Media, and Illinois Bell, now known as AT&T, sold its directory operations to R. H. Donnelley in 1990 ("AT&T Yellow Pages published by R. H. Donnelley").

Corporate governance[link]

Current members of the board of directors are: Richard L. Carrión, M. Frances Keeth, Robert W. Lane, Lowell C. McAdam (President and CEO), Sandra O. Moose, Joseph Neubauer, Donald T. Nicolaisen, Thomas H. O'Brien, Clarence Otis, Jr., Hugh B. Price, Ivan G. Seidenberg, Rodney E. Slater, John W. Snow and John R. Stafford.

Sponsorships and naming rights[link]

Verizon Center Chinatown, Washington, D.C.

• The Verizon Center in Washington, DC
• The Verizon corner at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
• Verizon Championship Racing, a sponsorship partnership with Team Penske in the IRL's IndyCar Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series
• Verizon Heritage (2006–2010) PGA Tour event in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
• Verizon IMAX 3D theater inside Jordan's Furniture stores in Natick and Reading, Massachusetts (formerly called Motion Odyssey Movie, M.O.M.)
• The Verizon Sports Complex in Lake Placid, New York where the bobsled, luge, and skeleton track is located
• Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre/Verizon Wireless Music Center in various cities across the U.S., including: Atlanta; Irvine, California; Noblesville, Indiana; St. Louis; Charlotte; Pelham, Alabama; and Virginia Beach
• The Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire
• The Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas
• The Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, Minnesota
• The Verizon Tower in Prudential Center Newark, NJ
• The Verizon Theater at Grand Prairie Dallas, TX
• The McLaren F1 Team starting at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix

Controversies[link]

Verizon has been involved in several public controversies.

Tax dodging and lobbying[link]

In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Verizon for spending $52.34 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008-2010, instead getting $951 million in tax rebates, despite making a profit of $32.5 billion, having laid off 21,308 workers since 2008 and increasing executive pay by 167% to $20.3 million in 2010 for its top 5 executives.^[26] However, on February 24, 2012, in its Form 10-K filed with the SEC,^[27] Verizon reported having paid more than $11.1 billion in taxes (including income, employment and property taxes) in 2009-2011. In addition, the company reported in the 10-K that most of the drop in employment since 2008 was due to a voluntary retirement offer.

Political[link]

On December 22, 2004, mail servers at Verizon.net were configured not to accept connections from Europe, by default, in an attempt to reduce spam email. Individual domains would only be unblocked upon request.^[28]

On May 11, 2006, controversy arose when USA Today revealed that Verizon, along with AT&T Inc. and BellSouth, had turned over the call records of millions of U.S. citizens to the National Security Agency. Verizon flatly denied turning over records to the government, but did not comment on whether MCI, which it had acquired in January, had done so.^[29] But on October 12, 2007, the company admitted in a letter to the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce that it had turned over customer information to the FBI and other federal agencies of the U.S. government approximately 94,000 times from January 2005 to September 2007, providing such information 720 times without being presented with a court order or warrant.^[30]

In September 2007, Verizon Wireless initially refused to make their mobile phone network available to NARAL Pro-Choice America for a program which allows people to sign up for pro-choice text messages, on the grounds that they had the right to block "controversial or unsavory" messages. They subsequently reversed the decision:

"It was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy, that ... was designed to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children. ... [Verizon has] great respect for this free flow of ideas."^[31]

Internet[link]

On February 4, 2010, 4chan started receiving reports from Verizon Wireless customers that they were having difficulties accessing the site's image boards. 4chan administrators found that only traffic on port 80 to the boards.4chan.org domain was affected, leading them to believe that the block was intentional. On February 7, 2010, Verizon Wireless confirmed that 4chan.org was "explicitly blocked".^[32]

In August 2010, the chairmen of Verizon and Google agreed that Network Neutrality should be defined and limited.^[33][34]

In December 2010 Verizon continued censoring its network by blocking access to some IRC servers related to Wikileaks "Operation Payback".^[35]

2011 union worker strikes[link]

In August 2011, 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike for two weeks over management efforts to reduce their benefits. Management was asking union workers to accept a freeze in pension contributions concurrent with a switch to a 401K plan used by other non-union Verizon workers. Other changes disputed by the unions included making contributions to health insurance premiums.^[36] In October 2011 the workers' union, the Communications Workers of America, joined Occupy Wall Street to protest the benefit cuts after Verizon announced its profits had doubled from the previous quarter.^[37]

FCC Ruling Appeal[link]

At the end of September 2011, Verizon Communication appealed the FCC’s ruling regarding net neutrality.^[38][39]

DNS Redirection[link]

Verizon turns on DNS redirection option for its paying broadband customers by default. When customers accidentally type and enter a non-existent Web address they are redirected to the Verizon search screen. Verizon calls this option "Domain Assistance" and gives customers instructions on how to disable it.^[40]

See also[link]

	New York City portal
	Companies portal

• Airfone — Air-ground radiotelephone service offered by Verizon
• AirTouch
• Idearc
• MCI Communications
• Verizon SmartPark — Advanced Telecommunications Services

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Verizon

• Official website

v t e Verizon Communications, Inc. Corporate Directors James Barker · Richard Carrión · Robert Lane · Sandra Moose · Joseph Neubauer · Thomas O'Brien · Hugh Price · Ivan Seidenberg · Walter Shipley · John R. Stafford Acquired companies GTE · MCI · NYNEX Local telephone companies GTE Southwest · Verizon California · Verizon Delaware · Verizon Florida · Verizon Maryland · Verizon North · Verizon New England · Verizon New Jersey · Verizon New York · Verizon Pennsylvania · Verizon South · Verizon Washington, D.C. · Verizon Virginia Other Services Long Distance Verizon Business · Verizon Enterprise Solutions · Verizon Long Distance · Verizon Select Services Wireless Verizon Wireless (55%) · Vodafone (45%) Internet Verizon High Speed Internet · FiOS Internet · Verizon Hub Video FiOS TV Other assets Empire City Subway Annual Revenue: US$106.565 billion (FY 2010) · Employees: 216,704 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: VZ, NASDAQ: VZ, BMV: VZ, LSE: VZC, Euronext: VERIZ, FWB: BAC · Website: verizon.com Category · Commons

Links to related articles v t e Verizon Wireless Corporate officers Lowell McAdam, President and CEO Owners Verizon Communications (55%) Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems (24.2%) · GTE Wireless (30.8%) Vodafone Group (45%) JVC PartnerCo (38.8%) · PCS Nucleus (6.2%) Acquired companies Alltel Operating companies Verizon Wireless (VAW) Employees: 66,000 · Website: verizonwireless.com v t e Bell System   Corporate Operations Holding Company American Telephone and Telegraph Company   Local Telephone Operations Bell Operating Companies 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 Franchisees Southern New England Telephone Cincinnati Bell   Other AT&T Subsidiaries Manufacturing Western Electric R&D Operations Bell Labs Long Distance Services AT&T Long Lines Wireless Services Advanced Mobile Phone Service   Historical Commemorative Bell Telephone Memorial Defunct Bell Telephone Company, National Bell Telephone Company, American Bell Telephone Company New England Telephone and Telegraph Company International Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company of Canada v t e Spinoffs of American Telephone & Telegraph Company   First Generation 1956 Bell Canada Northern Electric 1984 Divestiture Ameritech Bell Atlantic Bell Communications Research BellSouth NYNEX Pacific Telesis Southwestern Bell U S WEST 1996 Lucent Technologies NCR 1997 AT&T Submarine System sold to Tyco International 2001 AT&T Wireless Services 2003 AT&T Broadband   Second Generation Spinoffs Lucent Technologies Advanced American Telephones (2000) Avaya (2000) QLT Consumer Lease Services (2000) Agere Systems (2002) MediaOne Group (f/k/a U S WEST) U S WEST (1998) NCR Teradata (2007) Pacific Telesis AirTouch (1994) Qwest Dex Media (2002) Regional Bells Telcordia Technologies (1997) SBC Communications/AT&T DonTech (2004) YP Holdings (2012) Verizon Communications Hawaiian Telcom (2005) Idearc (2006) Northern New England Spinco (2008) New Communications Holdings (2010) v t e United States telephone companies Alaska Communications · Alaska Power and Telephone Company · AT&T · CenturyLink · Cincinnati Bell · EarthLink (Deltacom) · Emery Telcom · FairPoint · Frontier · GCI · Hawaiian Telcom · Claro - Puerto Rico Telephone · TDS · tw telecom · Verizon · Windstream (Cavalier Telephone, PAETEC) · XO Communications · Zayo v t e Cable, satellite, and other specialty television providers in the United States Cable Adams Cable Advanced Cable Communications Astound Broadband Atlantic Broadband Armstrong Telephone Company Allegiance Communications Blue Ridge Communications Bright House Networks Broadstripe Buckeye CableSystem Cable One Cablevision Champion Broadband Charter Cobridge Communications Comcast Cox Communications Emery Telcom FairPoint Communications GCI Hargray Insight Knology MCV Broadband Mediacom Midcontinent Communications Northland Cable Television OneLink RCN Satview Broadband Service Electric SRT Suddenlink Time Warner Cable Truvista Communications US Cable Wave Broadband Western Broadband Windjammer Communications WOW! Xfinity (Comcast) Satellite Claro DirecTV (Channels) Dish Network (Channels) Glorystar GlobeCast HITS IPTV Claro Hawaiian Telcom NEP Datastream TV Sky Angel (Channels) SureWest U-verse (AT&T) Fiber FiOS (Verizon) (Channels) FiOptics (Cincinnati Bell) Defunct cable TV Adelphia Alameda Power and Telecom AT&T Broadband MediaOne/Continental Cablevision Tele-Communications Inc. Bresnan Communications Graceba Total Communications Jones Intercable King Videocable Marcus Cable NPG Cable Paragon Cable Precis Communications Rapid Communications UA-Columbia Cablevision Defunct satellite AlphaStar PrimeStar USSB Voom Defunct IPTV VDC Qwest Choice TV Defunct terrestrial USDTV Americas Canada Europe Africa, Asia, and Oceania United States v t e Components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Current 3M Alcoa American Express AT&T Bank of America Boeing Caterpillar Chevron Cisco Systems The Coca-Cola Company DuPont ExxonMobil General Electric Hewlett-Packard The Home Depot Intel IBM Johnson & Johnson JPMorgan Chase Kraft Foods McDonald's Merck & Co. Microsoft Pfizer Procter & Gamble The Travelers Companies United Technologies Corporation Verizon Communications Walmart The Walt Disney Company Selected former Altria Group American International Group American Tobacco Company Bethlehem Steel Citigroup Colorado Fuel and Iron Kodak General Foods General Motors Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Honeywell International Harvester International Paper Johns Manville Nash Motors Navistar International North American Company Owens-Illinois Sears, Roebuck and Company Union Carbide United States Rubber Company U.S. Steel F. W. Woolworth Company v t e Telecommunications (general) History Beacons Broadcasting Communications satellites Computer networks Drums Electrical telegraphs Fax Heliographs Hydraulic telegraphs Internet Mass media Mobile phones Optical telegraphy Photophones Radio Radiotelephones Telegraphy Telephones The Telephone Cases Television Undersea telegraph lines Videophones Pioneers Edwin Howard Armstrong John Logie Baird Alexander Graham Bell Tim Berners-Lee Jagadish Chandra Bose Vint Cerf Claude Chappe Lee De Forest Philo Farnsworth Reginald Fessenden Elisha Gray Guglielmo Marconi Alexander Stepanovich Popov Johann Philipp Reis Nikola Tesla Alfred Vail Charles Wheatstone Vladimir K. Zworykin Media Coaxial cable Free-space optical Optical fiber Radio waves Telephone lines Terrestrial microwave Networks ARPANET BITNET Ethernet FidoNet ISDN Internet Local area Mobile NGN Packet switched Public Switched Telephone Radio Television Telex Wide area World Wide Web Wireless Geographic v t e Telecommunications in Africa Sovereign states Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe States with limited recognition Azawad Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland Dependencies and other territories Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla / Plazas de soberanía (Spain) Madeira (Portugal) Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom) Western Sahara v t e Telecommunications in Asia Sovereign states Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia People's Republic of China Cyprus East Timor (Timor-Leste) Egypt Georgia India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen States with limited recognition Abkhazia Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus Palestine Republic of China (Taiwan) South Ossetia Dependencies and other territories British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Hong Kong Macau v t e Telecommunications in Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales States with limited recognition Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependencies and other territories Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Svalbard Other entities European Union v t e Telecommunications in North America Sovereign states Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States Dependencies and other territories Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Navassa Island Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands v t e Telecommunications in Oceania Sovereign states Australia East Timor (Timor-Leste) Fiji Indonesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Dependencies and other territories American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cook Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna v t e Telecommunications in South America Sovereign states Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Dependencies and other territories Aruba Bonaire Curaçao Falkland Islands French Guiana South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands v t e Major information technology companies List of the largest technology companies List of the largest software companies Semiconductor sales leaders by year Consulting and outsourcing Accenture Atos Booz Allen Hamilton BT CACI Capgemini CGI Group Cognizant CSC Deloitte Dell Services Fujitsu Getronics HCL Technologies Hitachi HP IBM Indra Infosys Logica NEC NTT Data Orange Business Services TCS Tieto T-Systems Unisys Wipro Imaging Canon HP Kodak Kyocera Lexmark Ricoh Seiko Epson Sharp Toshiba Xerox Information storage Dell EMC Fujitsu Hitachi HP IBM NetApp Oracle Samsung Seagate Western Digital Mainframes IBM Mobile devices Apple Asus HTC Huawei LG Motorola Mobility NEC Casio Nokia RIM Samsung Sony ZTE Networking equipment Alcatel-Lucent Avaya Cisco Datang Ericsson Fujitsu HP Huawei Juniper Mitsubishi Electric Motorola Solutions NEC Nokia Siemens ZTE OEMs Celestica Compal Electronics Flextronics Foxconn Jabil Quanta Sanmina-SCI TPV Technology Wistron Personal computers and servers Acer Apple Asus Dell Fujitsu HP Lenovo NEC Toshiba Servers only IBM Oracle Unisys Point of sale IBM NCR Semiconductors Advanced Micro Devices Broadcom Elpida Memory Freescale Semiconductor Fujitsu Hynix Infineon Technologies Intel Marvell Technology Group MediaTek Micron Technology Nvidia NXP Panasonic Qualcomm Renesas Electronics Samsung Sony STMicroelectronics Texas Instruments Toshiba VIA Technologies Foundries GlobalFoundries SMIC TowerJazz TSMC United Microelectronics Corporation Software Adobe Apple CA Google HP IBM Intuit McAfee Microsoft Oracle SAP Symantec Telecommunications services América Móvil AT&T Bell Canada BT Bharti Airtel CenturyLink China Mobile China Telecom China Unicom Comcast Deutsche Telekom France Télécom Hutchison KDDI KPN KT MTS NTT NTT DoCoMo Reliance Communications Rogers SingTel SK Telecom SoftBank Sprint Nextel Swisscom Telenor Telecom Italia Telefónica TeliaSonera Verizon Vivendi Vodafone Websites Amazon.com Baidu eBay Facebook Google Tencent Yahoo! Methodology: FY2010/11 applicable revenues of over: group 1-11 (ex. semiconductor foundries) - US$3 billion; group 12 - US$10 billion; group 13 - US$2 billion; semiconductor foundries - US$0.5 billion