Verizon Communications Company

Couldn't get to your voice mail at home or work Wednesday or Thursday -- or leave a message on some phones? Neither could any other California customers with voice mail on their Verizon Communications Inc. land lines. A database error in a central server in Ontario froze the software for all 740,000 land-line customers subscribing to Verizon's voice mail early Wednesday, and the state's second-largest telephone company couldn't say late Thursday when the problem would be fixed.

The highest bidder in the multibillion-dollar sale of prime airwaves disclosed its plans for the wireless spectrum Friday, and the most prominent loser explained why it was still a big winner. A day after rules prohibiting participants in the federal government's online auction from discussing their strategies lifted, Verizon Wireless said it would use the new capacity to roll out faster wireless Internet service by 2010. Verizon outbid Google Inc., paying $4.

Verizon, Sprint and Time Warner Cable have agreed to block access to child pornography and eliminate the material from their Internet servers, New York's attorney general said Tuesday. The companies also will pay $1.1 million to help fund efforts to remove the online child porn created and disseminated by users through their services, Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo said. The changes will affect customers nationwide.

Verizon Communications Inc. and two unions representing some 65,000 of its workers remained in talks after agreeing to "stop the clock" on contracts that were set to expire late Sunday. The New York-based company expects "business as usual" today as talks continue, said Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe. He said there was no deadline set for reaching a deal. Major bargaining issues include healthcare coverage for employees and retirees, wages and union representation for new job areas.

Just as federal regulators again hammer cable companies over fast-rising prices in pay television, Verizon Communications Inc. plans to reduce its bundled charges for Internet, phone and TV services. The nation's second-largest phone company, which controls home phone lines throughout Southern California's affluent beach communities, said it was cutting prices to keep customers from fleeing to cable firms such as Time Warner Cable Inc., the largest provider in the Los Angeles region.

Verizon Communications Inc. plans to start television channels that will show news and sports in Washington and selected additional markets. Michelle Webb, a former news producer for Walt Disney Co.'s ABC TV network, will head the project, Verizon said. Verizon, based in New York, said the Washington channel would start operating in the first quarter. Verizon plans to spend $22.

Verizon Wireless added 2.3 million customers, most of them prized monthly subscribers, to put a shine on a fourth quarter in which Verizon Communications Inc.'s profit was cut by restructuring costs. In reporting the 38% drop in quarterly profit Monday, Verizon Communications emphasized that growth in its DSL and new FiOS Internet businesses had outpaced the loss of traditional telephone customers. In the final three months of 2006, Verizon earned $1.

The Venezuelan government agreed Monday to buy Verizon Communications Inc.'s 28.5% stake in Nacional Telefonos de Venezuela as President Hugo Chavez seeks control over key industries. The accord calls for the government to pay $572 million, or $17.85 a share, 11% more than the Venezuelan company's closing share price Monday of $16.08. The acquisition price was disclosed after the end of regular stock trading. Nacional Telefonos shares rose as much as 2.9% to $16.55 in after-hours trading.

California regulators are expected to adopt rules today to make it easier for phone companies to compete for cable TV customers. But don't expect new competition next month -- or even count on it next year. AT&T Inc., the state's dominant provider of landline service, covering 78% of California, is getting more aggressive in the TV business after pulling back its efforts to fix glitches in its newly crafted technology.

Verizon Communications Inc. won approval Thursday from state regulators to sell TV service in as many as 45 Southern California cities. The approval by the Public Utilities Commission was the first under the state's new video franchising law, which stripped local governments of their jurisdiction over applications to provide pay-TV service and gave it to the PUC. Verizon plans to disclose in a few weeks which cities it will serve first, said Timothy J.