Verizon New Jersey

Verizon New Jersey, Inc., formerly New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, is the Bell Operating Company serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. In 1984, the Bell System Divestiture split New Jersey Bell off into a Regional Bell Operating Company, along with the 21 other BOCs AT&T had a majority stake in. On January 1, 1984, New Jersey Bell became part of Bell Atlantic.

Large exchange building in Newark

Smaller exchange in East Orange, New Jersey

New Jersey Bell was founded in 1904 as an AT&T company serving southern New Jersey, named Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph & Telephone Company. New York Telephone served northern New Jersey. In October 1927, D&A T&T changed its name to New Jersey Bell Telephone Company, and purchased the New Jersey properties of New York Telephone which had belonged to New York and New Jersey Telephone and Telegraph.[1]

Throughout the 1980s to the first half of the 1990s, New Jersey Bell kept its traditional identity. In 1994, Bell Atlantic started rebranding all its companies to Bell Atlantic-(state), so New Jersey Bell became Bell Atlantic - New Jersey, Inc. In 2000, after the Bell Atlantic - GTE merger, the corporation changed its name to Verizon, and so New Jersey Bell once again changed its name, this time to Verizon New Jersey, Inc. Verizon New Jersey's headquarters are in the New Jersey Bell Headquarters Building on 540 Broad Street in Newark.