Verizon to Scrap its Telephone Book Business in New York State

Verizon is scrapping its printed telephone books. The telecommunications company, which dropped residential phone listings from its directories six years ago, won approval Thursday from state regulators to stop publishing and delivering its business telephone book to its customers. It will still make a book for those who request it, but that number is small, Verizon said.

The internet — and the rising use of cellphones, whose numbers aren’t included in the directories — have made traditional telephone books obsolete, Verizon said.