Pacific Telesis

Pacific Telesis Group(PacTel) was one of the sevenRegional Bell Operating Companies,sometimes also referred to as "RBOCs" or "Baby Bells", created in 1983 in preparation of the breakup ofAT&TCorporation. Pacific Telesis was the holding company forPacific Bell,Nevada Bell,Pacific Telesis International, PacTel Mobile Services and PacTel InfoSystems. Pacific Telesis was headquartered inSan Franciscoand incorporated inNevada.It was acquired bySBC Communications(the former Southwestern Bell) in 1997, which would eventually become today's AT&T Inc.

Pacific Telesis Group

Pacific Telesis' Headquarters At140 New MontgomeryStreet, As Seen In 2017.
Company type	Subsidiary
Traded as	NYSE:PAC
Industry	Telecommunications
Predecessor	American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Founded	December 31, 1983(1983-12-31)
Defunct	December 29, 2006(2006-12-29)
Fate	Merged WithBellSouthAndAT&T
Successor	AT&T Teleholdings
Headquarters	140 New Montgomery,San Francisco, California,United States
Key people	Chuck Smith(former CEO) Ray Wilkins (former CEO)
Products	Telephone,Internet,Television
Parent	AT&T Corporation(1983) SBC Corporation(1997–2006)

Nicknames

Pacific Telesis is more commonly known as "Pac Bell". Prior to the January 1, 1984, breakup of the Bell System, the corporate name of its principal subsidiary Pacific Bell was The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company, which had also been referred to as "PacTel." After the corporate name change, Pacific Bell was commonly known as "PacBell."

The red and white star trademarked logo was referred to by company employees as the "splat" or more formally as the "access symbol" after the similarstar keyon a telephone keypad.

Branded products

Pacific Telesis licensed rights to its name and the Bell name toVodavi,who sold consumer telephones under the "PacTel" name. Vodavi manufactured PacTel telephones inSouth Koreato "Bell Specifications".

Pacific Telesis later licensed the Pacific Bell name toThomson Consumer Electronics,who also produced telephone equipment forGE.

Spinoffs

The cellular and paging unit of Pacific Telesis, PacTel Cellular, was spun off in 1994 into a new company calledAirTouch Communications,leaving Pacific Telesis with only the landline telephone company. Senior Pacific Telesis management moved to AirTouch, thus leaving a new corporate culture to run the old Pacific Telesis. In 1999, AirTouch merged with Britain'sVodafoneto become Vodafone AirTouch. In 2000, Vodafone's U.S. wireless assets were merged with those ofBell Atlanticto form the joint ventureVerizon.

Later, whenGSMtechnology became available, Pacific Bell Mobile Services was re-created, debuting in 1996 at theRepublican National ConventioninSan Diego, Californiaand being introduced to the public in 1997.After its public launch, the wireless division was renamed Pacific Bell Wireless and remained as such until the merger with SBC.

Mergers

In 1997, Pacific Telesis Group was acquired bySBC Communications,and although the Pacific Telesis Group corporate name disappeared fairly quickly, SBC continued to operate the Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell local telephone companies separately under their original names.

In September 2001, SBC renamed the telephone companies "SBC Pacific Bell" and "SBC Nevada Bell". In late 2002, the companies were rebranded again as simply "SBC". Meanwhile, employees of SBC working in California and Nevada who supported SBC's non-regulated services and/or services provided both within and outside California were transferred to other SBC subsidiaries, like "Pacific Telesis Shared Services" and "SBC Operations, Inc." However, for legal and regulatory purposes, employees supporting local regulated services were still employed by "Pacific Bell Telephone CompanydbaSBC California ( "SBC California" ) ", and" Nevada Bell dba SBC Nevada ", which were the SBC subsidiaries that provided regulated local telephone services within the franchise territory in California and Nevada.

On November 18, 2005, SBC completed its acquisition of AT&T Corp. to formAT&T Inc.Nevada and Pacific Bells are now known as Pacific Bell Telephone Companyd/b/aAT&T California and Nevada Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Nevada. Pacific Telesis' companies as a whole business are known as AT&T West.

In 2006, the company was dissolved intoAT&T Teleholdings,which is the current name of the formerBaby BellAmeritech.