Frontier Southwest

Not to be confused with Frontier Communications of the Southwest.

Frontier Southwest Incorporated

Trade name	Frontier Communications of Texas
Formerly	State Telephone Company of Texas Southwestern Associated Telephone Company General Telephone Company of the Southwest GTE Southwest Incorporated
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1926 (1926)
Headquarters	Irving, Texas, U.S.
Products	Local Telephone Service
Parent	GTE (1926–2000) Verizon (2000–2016, 2026-present) Frontier (2016-2026)
Website	Verizon – Texas

Frontier Southwest Incorporated is a Frontier Communications operating company in Texas. At its peak, Frontier Southwest served Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

History

Its original name upon founding was State Telephone Company of Texas. It later changed its name to Southwestern Associated Telephone Company, and General Telephone Company of the Southwest.

In 1996, Contel of New Mexico and Contel of Texas were merged into GTE Southwest.

Fragmentation

In 1999, GTE announced that it was going to sell 1.3 million access lines. GTE agreed to sell 400,000 lines in New Mexico and lines in rural areas of Texas to a company called Valor Telecom (later absorbed into Windstream Holdings).

In 2000, Bell Atlantic purchased GTE and renamed itself Verizon. Shortly thereafter, the pending sale of GTE Southwest's operations to Valor Telecom was completed. GTE Southwest's Arkansas operations in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma were sold to CenturyTel to become CenturyTel of Northwest Arkansas (GTE's operations in Arkansas were completely sold off). GTE Southwest retained its name and operations in more populated areas of Texas.

GTE Southwest was the only former GTE operating company that did not change its official legal name under Verizon ownership.

Sale to Frontier

On February 5, 2015, Verizon Communications announced a sale of its wired telecom operations in California, Florida, and Texas to Frontier Communications. GTE Southwest was included in the sale. The transaction closed in the first half of 2016.

Following the sale, GTE Southwest was renamed Frontier Southwest Incorporated and began doing business under the name Frontier Communications of Texas.

Sale back to Verizon

On September 5, 2024 Verizon announced that it will acquire 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 Southwest.

Sources

• FCC History: GTE Southwest, Inc. dba Verizon Southwest