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 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 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.
Name changes 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 On July 1, 2010, Verizon transferred some local operations to a new subsidiary,
New Communications ILEC Holdings, which was sold to Frontier Communications. Included in the sale was Verizon West Virginia, which became
Frontier West Virginia, Inc. Even though Frontier was not started as a
Baby Bell, the FCC determined that Frontier West Virginia is still responsible to uphold obligations expected of Bell Operating Companies outlined in the
Telecommunications Act of 1996. The company operates separately from
Citizens Telecommunications Company of West Virginia, Frontier's other provider in the state, which it already owned prior to the purchase from Verizon.
Sale back to Verizon On September 5, 2024, Verizon announced that it will buy Frontier Communications for $20 billion. This acquisition was completed on January 20, 2026. As a result, Verizon took control of Frontier's operations, including regaining Frontier West Virginia. ==References==