When Robert W. Woltz Jr. walked up to the “cord-board” in Petersburg on his second day with the phone company, he stepped to a corner of the business world that has long since disappeared. “My first job, there wasn’t a men’s room on the entire floor,“ recalls Woltz, who, as president of Verizon Communications’ Virginia operations, now oversees all the company’s landline and wireless business in the state.

The company continues to manage the decline in its wireline business as customers increasingly disconnect their landlines in favor of cell phones. Revenue from landlines fell by 4.8 percent while wireless services—including cell phones and data plans—were up 24.4 percent thanks largely to its January purchase of Alltel Corp. Owens & Minor Inc.‘s reported increased income yesterday thanks in part to changes in supplier pricing.

Verizon Communications Inc., the nation’s second largest phone company, on Monday said third-quarter revenue fell nearly 30 percent as higher costs offset an increase in revenue that largely was driven by an acquisition in its wireless business.

An aggressive TV ad campaign from Verizon Wireless is adding to the support building for a software package from Google Inc. that is shaping up to be the most formidable challenge yet to Apple Inc.‘s iPhone. The commercials for the Droid phone, being made by Motorola Inc., list features that the iPhone lacks, such as a physical keyboard and the ability to run applications simultaneously. It ends with the tag line “Everything iDon’t. Droid does.“

Verizon is offering a new package to customers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic that allows them to bundle four services onto one bill. Called a “quad-play,“ the bundle lets customers pay for their cellular phones, television, Internet and landline phone services on one bill that will be discounted each month for a year. The average savings, depending on the speed of Internet service, will vary between $59 and $179 per year, Verizon said in a news release.

The Richmond Ballet’s “Nutcracker” will make a grand jeté to the new Carpenter Theatre this year with help from Dominion Resources. The energy company has donated $85,000 to the ballet as exclusive title sponsor for the 2009 production of “The Nutcracker” in Richmond’s CenterStage facility on Dec. 11-23 and Norfolk’s Chrysler Hall on Dec. 4-6.

Virginia Commonwealth University is getting a new corporate sponsor - Verizon Wireless - for its arena at the Siegel Center. The five-year partnership for the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Siegel Center is worth $850,000, VCU Athletic Director Norwood Teague said. PITTSBURGH - Pitt senior guard Jermaine Dixon underwent bone graft surgery on his broken right foot and is expected to be out about two months. Dixon reinjured the foot he initially broke in July. Dixon started all 36 games for the Panthers last season, averaging 8.4 points.

Cost-cutting at Verizon Communications Inc.‘s wireline business failed to keep pace with falling revenues as the nation’s largest wireless carrier reported a 21 percent drop in second-quarter profit and announced further job cuts. The company said yesterday that it will cut more than 8,000 employee and contractor jobs before the end of the year in the wireline business, speeding up its efforts to keep costs in line.

Verizon Communications Inc., the nation’s largest wireless carrier, said Monday its second-quarter profit fell 21 percent as cost-cutting in its wireline business failed to keep pace with falling revenues.

The State Corporation Commission is reconsidering a decision made in May relating to the fees Embarq Corp. charges other phone carriers to connect long-distance callers. On May 29, the commission ordered Embarq to reduce its access fees 50 percent by 2010. Access fees are paid by one phone company to another when a customer makes a long-distance call within the state to someone using a different carrier.

Twenty students from 12 local high schools recently were awarded $1,500 scholarships from the Ukrop’s Education Foundation. The additions mean 140 students will receive Ukrop’s scholarships worth a total of $210,000 during the 2009-2010 academic year. Scholarships are renewable for four years or until a bachelor’s degree is earned, as long as the student maintains an acceptable grade-point average.

Three big players in the telephone industry have asked the State Corporation Commission to reconsider a May ruling they say hurts competition and amounts to a subsidy for Embarq Corp. The strife is over access fees, which are paid by one phone company to another when a customer makes a long distance call within the state to someone using a different carrier.

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The Brink’s Co.‘s firstquarter profit declined as the security-services company saw business conditions deteriorate in Europe and unfavorable foreign-exchange rates. The Henrico County-based company reported profit of $23 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with profit of $50 million or $1.07 per share in the first quarter of 2008, when the company still owned its Brink’s Home Security division. That was spun off as a separate company in October.

Verizon is hiring workers in state 20-hours-per-week jobs are in Henrico; 30 full-timers are being hired in Roanoke Verizon Communications Inc. is hiring 60 part-time employees to work at the company’s customer-service center in Henrico County plus 30 full-time workers for its center in Roanoke. Starting wages here range from $12.51 per hour to $27.65 per hour, depending on experience and education, plus part-time benefits and paid training.