Advanced Mobile Phone Service

Advanced Mobile Phone Service, Inc.Company type| Defunct

|

Industry| Telecommunications
Founded| 1978
Defunct| 1984
Products| AMPS
Parent| AT&T (1983-1984)

Advanced Mobile Phone Service, Inc. was a subsidiary of AT&T prior to the Bell System Divestiture. Abbreviated AMPS, the company was created in 1978 to build and operate the new Advanced Mobile Phone System, also abbreviated AMPS. AMPS was developed by Bell Labs to replace older, severely limited radiophone services, such as IMTS.

AMPS was one of first providers of cellular phone service, starting in Chicago on October 13, 1983, and in the Washington, D.C., area December 1983. After divestiture, AMPS was divided among the 7 newly created Regional Holding Companies, now known as RBOCs:

* NYNEX Mobile Communications
* Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems
* Ameritech Mobile Communications
* BellSouth Mobility
* PacTel Mobile Access
* Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems
* U S West NewVector

## Evolution of Successor Companies

[edit]

Through a series of mergers, acquisitions, and re-consolidation among the Baby Bells, these 7 original mobile operating companies are now split as such -

* AT&T Mobility
* Ameritech Mobile Communications
* BellSouth Mobility
* Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems
* Verizon Wireless
* Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems
* NYNEX Mobile Communications
* AirTouch
* PacTel Mobile Access
* U S WEST NewVector

PacTel Mobile Access and U S WEST NewVector are owned by Verizon Wireless due to its co-ownership by Vodafone. PacTel Mobile Access was spun off into AirTouch in 1994, and U S WEST NewVector was spun off and merged into AirTouch in 1997. AirTouch was then acquired by Vodafone in 1999. Bell Atlantic and Vodafone combined their wireless operations to form Verizon Wireless in 2000.

Ameritech's Chicago n/w was divested and sold to GTE Wireless in 1999 as a condition of the former's merger with SBC Communications. In 2000, Bell Atlantic bought GTE and changed its name to Verizon Communications; at that point, GTE Wireless became part of Verizon Wireless.

## References

[edit]

* AT&T History

* 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

Telephones portal
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template