Pacific Telesis

Pacific Telesis Group

Company type	Public
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	1983 (1983)
Defunct	2006 (2006)
Fate	Acquired by SBC Communications in 1997; fully absorbed into AT&T Teleholdings in 2006
Successor	AT&T Inc.
Headquarters	San Francisco , United States
Area served	United States (California, Nevada)
Products	Landline telephone services, wireless services (spun off in 1994)
Parent	SBC Communications (1997–2006), later AT&T Inc.

Pacific Telesis Group (commonly referred to as PacTel) was among the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies—often called "Baby Bells"—established in 1983 in anticipation of the Bell System breakup. It functioned as the parent company for entities including Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, Pacific Telesis International, PacTel Mobile Services, and PacTel InfoSystems. Based in San Francisco and incorporated in Nevada, Pacific Telesis was acquired in 1997 by SBC Communications (previously Southwestern Bell), which eventually evolved into the current AT&T Inc.

Nicknames

The name "Pac Bell" was widely used to identify Pacific Telesis. Prior to the January 1, 1984 divestiture, its primary subsidiary, Pacific Bell, operated under the name The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company, also known as "PacTel." Following the rebranding, Pacific Bell became popularly recognized as "PacBell."

Employees informally dubbed the company's red and white star logo—the trademarked "access symbol"—the "splat," a nickname inspired by its resemblance to the asterisk key on telephone keypads.

Branded products

Pacific Telesis granted licensing rights for its name and the Bell brand to Vodavi, which marketed consumer telephones under the "PacTel" brand. These devices were manufactured in South Korea according to Bell's specifications.

Subsequently, Pacific Telesis licensed the Pacific Bell brand to Thomson Consumer Electronics, which produced telephone equipment on behalf of GE.

Spinoffs

In 1994, Pacific Telesis divested its cellular and paging operations by spinning off PacTel Cellular, leading to the creation of AirTouch Communications. This move allowed Pacific Telesis to concentrate exclusively on traditional landline services. Key executives moved to AirTouch, influencing a shift in corporate culture at Pacific Telesis. AirTouch merged with British firm Vodafone in 1999, forming Vodafone AirTouch. By 2000, Vodafone’s U.S. wireless assets combined with those of Bell Atlantic to launch the joint venture Verizon.

With the introduction of GSM technology, Pacific Bell Mobile Services was reestablished in 1996 and officially launched in 1997. This wireless segment was later renamed Pacific Bell Wireless before its integration into SBC.

Mergers

In 1997, SBC Communications (formerly Southwestern Bell Corporation) acquired Pacific Telesis Group for $16.7 billion. Although the Pacific Telesis name was soon retired, SBC maintained operations of Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell under their original brand identities.

By September 2001, SBC had rebranded these entities as "SBC Pacific Bell" and "SBC Nevada Bell," further shortening both to "SBC" by late 2002. Employees supporting multi-state or non-regulated services were reassigned to other SBC subsidiaries such as "Pacific Telesis Shared Services" and "SBC Operations, Inc." Nevertheless, for regulatory compliance, local regulated services continued under "Pacific Bell Telephone Company dba SBC California" and "Nevada Bell dba SBC Nevada."

Following SBC’s acquisition of AT&T Corp. on November 18, 2005—which resulted in the formation of AT&T Inc.—Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell were renamed Pacific Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T California and Nevada Bell Telephone Company d/b/a AT&T Nevada respectively, collectively referred to as AT&T West.

In 2006, Pacific Telesis was fully absorbed into AT&T Teleholdings, which succeeded the former Baby Bell Ameritech.