The company's first president was R.A. Phillips and was formally incorporated by Judson Large, Dean A. Esling, Richard L. Merrick, William W. Darrow, and Roland K. Smith, Jr.

At this point, GTE South served Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

GTE South lines in Georgia were traded with Alltel's Illinois operations.

In 2010, operations in southern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, North Carolina (with the exception of Knotts Island), and South Carolina were included in a sale of Verizon assets, placed under the ownership of Frontier Communications ILEC Holdings, to Frontier Communications.

Verizon South remains a current operating company of Verizon serving former GTE and Contel regions in Virginia and Knotts Island, North Carolina.