Verizon Communications Inc. provides communications, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental agencies worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Wireless and Wireline. The Verizon Wireless segment offers data services and applications comprising Internet access through smartphones and basic phones; mobile broadband services; messaging services, which enable its customers to send and receive text, picture, and video messages; customer-focused and business-focused offerings; location-based services; and global data services, as well as access to data applications and services of third parties. It also provides voice services; other connection-related services, such as data access and value added services to support telemetry-type applications; and M2M services that support devices used in healthcare, manufacturing, utilities, distribution, and consumer products markets. In addition, this segment sells smartphones and basic phones, tablets, and other Internet access devices. The Wireline segment offers video services over its fiber-optic network; data Services comprising high-speed Internet and FiOS broadband data products, as well as local exchange capacity, managed, mobility, and security services; voice services, such as local exchange, regional, long distance, wire maintenance, and voice messaging services, as well as VoIP, and landline and wireless services; and local dial tone and broadband services to local exchange carriers. This segment also provides networking products and solutions, such as private Internet protocol services, and ethernet access and ring services; and infrastructure and cloud services. As of May 24, 2012, it served 93 million retail customers. The company was formerly known as Bell Atlantic Corporation and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. in June 2000. Verizon Communications Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in New York, New York.

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