| has gloss | eng: The Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company was the name of the Bell Systems telephone operations in California. It gained in size by acquiring smaller telephone companies along the Pacific coast, such as Sunset Telephone & Telegraph in 1917. Purchases extended Pacific Telephones territory into Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho; on July 1, 1961, however, those operations were split off to become Pacific Northwest Bell. Entering into the 1980s, Pacific Telephone had assets valued at $14.5 billion, making it the biggest of any of the 22 Bells AT&T wholly owned, which also made Pacific Telephone the "crown jewel" of the operating companies. However, Pacific Telephone was one of the least profitable Bells, due to very tough local telephone regulations in California. |
