GTE Midwest, Inc. was a GTE operating company formed in 1993 upon the split off of GTE local telephone operations from GTE North, Inc. GTE Midwest served Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota, and included the operations of Contel in Iowa and Missouri.

Unlike the Bell Operating Companies of the old Bell System, which served its states for a stable amount of time, GTE Midwest transferred its states to its various operating companies within a small amount of time. Such changes include:

• In 1995, GTE Midwest's Minnesota operations were transferred to Contel of Minnesota, Inc. dba GTE Minnesota. Contel of Minnesota had always been a separate company of GTE Midwest.
• In 2000, Bell Atlantic acquired GTE, renaming the merged company Verizon. Upon the completion of the merger, Iowa operations of GTE Midwest were sold to Iowa Network Service, and Nebraska operations were sold to Citizens Communications. By the end of 2000, GTE Midwest only serves Missouri, and GTE Midwest is renamed "GTE Midwest, Inc. dba Verizon Midwest, Inc."
• In 2002, Verizon decided to sell its operations in Missouri to CenturyTel.

On August 31, 2002, Verizon discontinued Verizon Midwest, Inc. as an operating company, with all of its operations transferred to different operating companies within old GTE, or the operations being sold off.

Sources

• GTE Midwest, Inc. dba Verizon Midwest, Inc.