Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GTE Hangs It Up In Prescott

GTE is no longer the provider for telephone service in Nevada County.

Verizon Communication, the telecommunications company formed by the merger between GTE and Bell Atlantic, sold GTE in Arkansas to CenturyTel, with the exception of its Texarkana operation. This system was sold to Valor Telecommunications.

Overall, the deal was for 230,500 lines serving 305 telephone exchanges, with the completion for the transaction Monday, July 31.

All GTE customer accounts were transferred to CenturyTel, with their billing from this company to begin Tuesday, Aug. 1. However, according to a release from Verizon, customers will notice no difference, other than in where the billing comes from.

All long distance, Internet and directory services Verizon was providing will still be offered to the Arkansas customers.

For a while, customers can keep calling Verizon with any problems, such as repairs, billing, residential and business services, with these calls being transferred to CenturyTel service representatives.

In addition, customers can reach CenturyTel by calling 800-201-4099 for residential services; 800-201-4102 for business services; and 800-201-4968 for repair needs.

In this area, Prescott, Blevins, Rosston and Waterloo will be the only phone systems affected by the change.