PrimeCo no longer exists. It was a national wireless alliance that became part of Verizon Wireless in April 2000.
PrimeCo is gone
PrimeCo Personal Communications was folded into the venture that became Verizon Wireless in April 2000.
If you were a PrimeCo customer
PrimeCo customers moved to Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless’s S-1 said the new brand may have confused PrimeCo customers. The sources we found do not say how numbers were handled.
How PrimeCo ended
- October 1994: AirTouch, US West, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX formed the alliance.
- 1996: PrimeCo launched CDMA PCS service in 11 major markets, as RCR Wireless reported in November 1996.
- Third quarter 1999: PrimeCo had more than 1.2 million subscribers, 3,300 employees and 120 stores.
- April 2000: PrimeCo was folded into the venture that became Verizon Wireless.
The history of PrimeCo
The original alliance bid about $1.1 billion for licenses in 11 cities. It was later owned by Bell Atlantic and Vodafone AirTouch, which bought TXU’s 20% Texas stake for $357 million. The combination of Bell Atlantic and Vodafone AirTouch’s wireless businesses became Verizon Wireless, and PrimeCo went into it.
How to find who holds an old number now
- Check an old bill or payment record. It names the company that billed you last.
- Run the number through a carrier lookup tool. It shows the carrier that holds the number today.
- Call that carrier and ask for the account number and transfer PIN.
- Start the port from the new carrier. Never cancel the old line first.
Your right to keep a number
Number portability is federal law, not a carrier policy. The rule is the FCC’s: Portability: Keeping Your Phone Number When Changing Service Providers.
How we verified PrimeCo
Best Cellular tracks active carriers and defunct ones. We keep both, because people still search for brands that no longer exist. Every fact on this PrimeCo page comes from at least two independent sources, listed below, and we leave a detail out when no source states it. Where sources disagree, this page says so. If you can document a correction, tell us and we will check it against the sources.
Tracked and active are different counts on this site. PrimeCo counts in our tracked total, not in our active total, so it does not appear in tools built for live carriers.
Questions about PrimeCo
Is PrimeCo still in business?
No. PrimeCo was folded into the venture that became Verizon Wireless in April 2000.
Who owned PrimeCo?
AirTouch, US West, Bell Atlantic and NYNEX formed it. Bell Atlantic and Vodafone AirTouch owned it later.
What network did PrimeCo use?
Its own 1900 MHz CDMA PCS network.
Where did PrimeCo customers go?
To Verizon Wireless.
Does BestCellular.com list PrimeCo as an active carrier?
No. We track PrimeCo as a defunct carrier. It counts toward our tracked total but not our active total.
Sources and verification
Facts checked October 11, 2026 against at least two independent sources:
- RCR Wireless: PrimeCo launches CDMA-based PCS in 11 major trading areas: the 1996 launch.
- Verizon: National wireless alliance unveils brand strategy: the Verizon Wireless brand.
- Verizon Wireless press release, December 1999: the combination.
- Tampa Bay Times: PrimeCo customers head for Verizon: the April 2000 transition.
- Verizon Wireless SEC filing: the S-1 and customer confusion note.
Best Cellular. “PrimeCo: What Happened,” BestCellular.com. https://bestcellular.com/primeco/
Free to reuse with credit. Licence, sources and the full dataset. All defunct carriers are listed on carriers that shut down.
Live carriers to look at instead
PrimeCo’s customers became Verizon customers.