Editing GTE

{{Short description|Defunct American telephone company}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox company
| name = GTE Corporation
| logo = [[Image:GTE logo.svg|alt=GTE corporate logo, 1971–2000]]
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| traded_as = {{NYSE was|GTE}}
| fate = Acquired by [[Bell Atlantic]]
| successor = [[Verizon Communications]]
| foundation = {{start date and age|1934}}
| defunct = {{end date and age|2000|06|30}}
| location = [[Stamford, Connecticut]], U.S.
| industry = Telecommunications
| products = Telephone, internet, television
| subsid = {{Plain list|
* [[GTE Southwest]]
* [[CODETEL]]
* [[Verizon California]]
* [[Verizon Florida]]
* [[Verizon North]]
* [[Verizon South]]
* [[Hawaiian Telephone]]
* [[Puerto Rico Telephone]]
}}
| homepage = [https://web.archive.org/web/20000620160438/http://www.gte.com:80/ GTE.com]
| footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/40858/0000950123-97-002252.txt|title=FORM 10-K}}</ref>
}}

'''GTE Corporation''', formerly '''General Telephone & Electronics Corporation''' (1955–1982),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bell Atlantic and GTE Pick Post-Merger Name |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/04/business/bell-atlantic-and-gte-pick-post-merger-name.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 4, 2000|access-date=March 15, 2015}}</ref> was the largest [[independent telephone company]] in the United States during the days of the [[Bell System]]. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing further back than that, until 2000, when it was acquired by Bell Atlantic, which changed its name to [[Verizon]].

The [[Wisconsin]]-based [[Associated Telephone Utilities Company]] was founded in 1926; it went bankrupt in 1933 during the [[Great Depression]], and was reorganized as General Telephone in 1934.<ref name=GTEBRIT>{{cite encyclopedia |title=GTE Corporation |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/247519/GTE-Corporation |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=January 2, 2014}}</ref> In 1991, it acquired the third largest independent, [[Contel|Continental Telephone]] (ConTel).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://investor.verizon.com/shareowner/cost_basis_worksheet.aspx |title=Investor Relations – Verizon |access-date=April 15, 2007 |archive-date=September 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080918041238/http://investor.verizon.com/shareowner/cost_basis_worksheet.aspx |url-status=dead}}</ref> It owned [[Automatic Electric]], a telephone equipment supplier similar in many ways to [[Western Electric]], and [[Sylvania Lighting]], the only non-communications-oriented company under GTE ownership. GTE provided local telephone service to many areas of the U.S. through [[GTE Operating Companies|operating companies]], much as [[American Telephone & Telegraph]] provided local telephone service through its 22 [[Bell Operating Company|Bell Operating Companies]].

The company acquired [[BBN Planet]], one of the earliest Internet service providers, in 1997. That division became known as GTE Internetworking, and was later spun off into the independent company [[Genuity (Internet company)|Genuity]] (a name recycled from another Internet company GTE acquired in 1997) to satisfy [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) requirements regarding the GTE–Bell Atlantic merger that created Verizon.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Bell Atlantic and GTE Chairmen Praise FCC Merger Approval |url=http://newscenter2.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2000/page-29759036.html |publisher=Verizon |access-date=January 10, 2014 |archive-date=January 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110085454/http://newscenter2.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2000/page-29759036.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

GTE operated in Canada via large interests in subsidiary companies such as [[BC Tel]] and [[Telus Communications|Quebec-Téléphone]]. When foreign ownership restrictions on telecommunications companies were introduced, GTE's ownership was [[grandfathered]]. When BC Tel merged with Telus (the name given to the privatized [[Alberta Government Telephones]] (AGT)) to create [[Telus Communications|BCT.Telus]], GTE's Canadian subsidiaries were merged into the new parent, making it the second-largest telecommunications carrier in Canada. As such, GTE's successor, Verizon Communications, was the only foreign telecommunications company with a greater than 20% interest in a Canadian carrier, until Verizon completely divested itself of its shares in 2004.<ref>{{Cite press release |url=http://about.telus.com/cgi-bin/news_viewer.cgi?news_id=536&mode=2&news_year=2004 |title=Sale of 73.5 million TELUS shares by Verizon completed |publisher=TELUS News Release |date=December 14, 2004|access-date=September 8, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927121936/http://about.telus.com/cgi-bin/news_viewer.cgi?news_id=536&mode=2&news_year=2004|archive-date=September 27, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the Caribbean, CONTEL purchased several major stakes in the newly independent countries of the [[British West Indies]] (namely in [[Barbados]], [[Jamaica]], and [[Trinidad and Tobago]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vii.org/papers/cari.htm |author=Felipe M Noguera |title=Telecommunications in The Caribbean |access-date=June 8, 2007 |archive-date=July 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725042730/http://www.vii.org/papers/cari.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.candw.com.bb/barbados/about_us/history/history_02.html |title=Cable & Wireless Barbados: Early History |access-date=June 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929062205/http://www.candw.com.bb/barbados/about_us/history/history_02.html |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tstt.net.tt/about/history.cfm |title=Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago – Corporate History |access-date=June 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820161458/http://tstt.net.tt/about/history.cfm |archive-date=August 20, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Prior to GTE's merger with Bell Atlantic, GTE also maintained an interactive television service joint-venture called [[GTE mainStreet]] (sometimes also called mainStreet USA) as well as an interactive entertainment and video game publishing operation, [[GTE Interactive Media]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-13539462.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516194503/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-13539462.html|url-status=dead |archive-date=May 16, 2011 |author=Linda Haugsted |title=Daniels Cablevision launches GTE Main Street. (package of interactive information services) |magazine=[[Multichannel News]] |date=December 7, 1992}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-16915641.html |title=Creative Multimedia and GTE Main Street Strike Partnership; New agreement will deliver CD-ROMs over subscribers' TV sets. |publisher=Business Wire |date=May 30, 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA420347.html |author=Mike Farrell |title=Sale of Cerritos Cable System Expected Soon |magazine=Multichannel News |date=May 24, 2004}}</ref>

==History==
===General Telephone===
In 1934, General Telephone Corporation was established with John Winn as president. The following year, the company created General Telephone Directory Company as a division. During World War II, General Telephone helped install phone service for military facilities. From 1946 to 1950, General Telephone obtained over 100,000 telephone lines and bought out Leich Electric Company.

General Telephone's holdings included 15 telephone companies across 20 states by 1951, when [[Donald C. Power]] was named president of the company under chairman and long-time GT executive Morris F. LaCroix, replacing the retiring Harold Bozell (president 1940 – 1951). Power proceeded to expand the company through the 1950s principally through two acquisitions.

In 1955, [[Theodore Gary & Company]] became a part of General Telephone and allowed the company to hold over 2 million telephone lines after the companies merged. It also had a subsidiary, named the General Telephone and Electric Corporation, formed in 1930 with the [[Transamerica Corporation]] and British investors to compete against ITT.<ref>[https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,740606,00.html "Business & Finance: Transamerica into Telephones"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', October 20, 1930.</ref>

In 1959, [[Sylvania Electric Products]] merged into General Telephone and was renamed to General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (GT&E). Power also obtained the purchases of multiple companies. such as Lenkurt Electric Company, Inc and Peninsular Telephone Company. In 1960, GT&E International Incorporated was created as a branch company. Power was named C.E.O. and chairman in 1961, making way for Leslie H. Warner, formerly of Theodore Gary, to become president. Simultaneously, GT&E went on to buy [[Cable television|Community Antenna Television]] providers.

In 1964, [[Western Utilities Corporation]] became part of GT&E. Additional purchases during the 1960s included [[Hawaiian Telcom|Hawaiian Telephone Company]] and Northern Ohio Telephone Company. At the end of the decade, ten million GT&E phones were active.

[[File:KarTrak code.jpg|thumb|[[KarTrak]] Automated Car Identification system on a caboose in Florida]]In the late 1960s, GT&E joined in the search for a railroad car [[Automatic Car Identification]] system. It designed the [[KarTrak]] optical system, which won over other manufacturer's systems in field trials, but ultimately proved to need too much maintenance. In the late 1970s the system was abandoned.

After a 1970 bomb attack to the company's headquarters in New York City, the company relocated to Stamford, Connecticut for their new headquarters. In 1971 GT&E undertook an identity change and became simply GTE, while Sylvania Electric Products became GTE Sylvania.<ref>{{cite web |title=Company History |url=http://www.vintagesylvania.net/?page=history |website=Vintage Sylvania |access-date=August 28, 2014}}</ref> The same year, Donald C. Power retired and Leslie H. Warner became chairman of the board. [[Theodore F. Brophy]] was brought in as president.

In 1974, GTE worked with [[American Telephone & Telegraph]] in a project to create satellite stations. A few years later, the company's international branch was replaced by a GTE products company in 1976. Their products company remained until 1979.
In 1979, GTE purchased [[Telenet]] to establish a presence in the growing [[packet switching]] [[data communications]] business. GTE Telenet was later included in the [[Sprint-Nextel#United Telecom|US Telecom]] joint venture.

===1980s===
In December 1983 Vanderslice stepped down as the company's president and chief operating officer.
[[File:GTE manhole cover - Hillsboro, Oregon.JPG|thumb|A manhole cover featuring the company logo in [[Hillsboro, Oregon]]]]

In April 1988, after the retirement of Theodore F. Brophy, James L. "Rocky" Johnson was promoted from his position as president and chief operating officer to CEO of GTE; he was appointed chairman in 1991.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ramirez|first=Anthony|date=December 13, 1991|title=Business People; President of GTE Is Named Chairman |work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/13/business/business-people-president-of-gte-is-named-chairman.html|access-date=November 29, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Under Johnson's leadership, GTE divested its 50% ownership of [[Sprint Corporation|US Sprint]], the nation's third largest long-distance company. He also orchestrated the sale of Sylvania and the merger with Contel, creating the 2nd largest telephone company in the United States. 
In 1989, GTE reorganized into six operating groups, focusing on its core businesses of telephone operations, information services, and publishing of telephone directories. With previous job cuts and announced future job cuts, Johnson was able to return GTE to profitability. 
Other new services provided under his leadership were GTE Mobilenet cellular telephone operations, [[Airfone]] air-to-ground telephone services, and the first voice, video, and data services community in Cerritos, California to test home banking, at-home shopping, home security, and pay-per-view television in 16,000 homes and 2,000 businesses.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-08-20-fi-500-story.html | title=GTE Put on a Diet : New Chief Pushes Once-Plodding Firm Onto the Fast Track | date=20 August 1988 | accessdate=21 August 2023 | author=Richter, Paul | website=www.latimes.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/01/09/GTE-reorganizes-into-six-operating-groups/6066600325200/ | title=GTE reorganizes into six operating groups | publisher=UPI | date=9 January 1080 | accessdate=21 August 2023 | website=www.upi.com}}</ref>

===1990s===
In April 1992, James L. "Rocky" Johnson retired after 43 years at GTE, remaining on the GTE board of directors as chairman emeritus.  Charles "Chuck" Lee was named to succeed Johnson. In 1994, Lee sold the company's satellite provider, [[Spacenet]], to [[General Electric]] and Contel of Maine to [[Oxford Networks]], which placed the company into a newly created subsidiary, [[Oxford West Telephone]].<ref name="FundingU">{{cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/GTE-Corporation-Company-History.html |title=GTE Corporation – Company History |publisher=Fundinguniverse.com |access-date=February 24, 2017}}</ref>

==Merger with Bell Atlantic ==
[[Image:Verizon Logo 2000 to 2015.svg|thumb|200px|right|Original Verizon logo introduced at the time of the acquisition]]<!--For illustration purposes of BA/GTE acquisition KEEP IT THERE!-->
Bell Atlantic merged with GTE on June 30, 2000, and named the new entity [[Verizon Communications]]. The GTE operating companies retained by Verizon became collectively known as '''Verizon West''' division of Verizon (including east coast service territories). The remaining smaller operating companies were sold off or transferred into the remaining ones. Additional properties were sold off within a few years after the merger to [[CenturyTel]], [[Alltel]], and [[Hawaiian Telcom]].

On July 1, 2010, Verizon sold many former GTE properties to [[Frontier Communications]].<ref>{{cite web|author=FCC Internet Services Staff |url=http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/armis/carrier_filing_history/COSA_History/gttc.htm |title=Corporate History – Verizon Communications (formerly GTE Corporation) |publisher=Fcc.gov |access-date=May 15, 2012}}</ref> Additional ex-GTE territories in California, Florida, and Texas were sold to Frontier in 2015 and transferred in 2016, ending Verizon's landline operations outside of the historic Bell Atlantic footprint.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/verizon-must-slash-375m-costs-stay-even-keel-following-frontier-sale-jeffer/2016-04-07|title=Verizon must slash $375M in costs to stay on even keel following Frontier sale, Jefferies says|work=FierceTelecom|access-date=November 14, 2020|archive-date=June 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160615035450/http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/verizon-must-slash-375m-costs-stay-even-keel-following-frontier-sale-jeffer/2016-04-07|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Verizon still operates phone service in non-Bell System areas in Pennsylvania under [[Verizon North]], and in non-Bell System areas in Virginia and Knotts Island, North Carolina under [[Verizon South]].

In September 2024, Verizon announced a deal to acquire Frontier, which will return much of the former GTE network to Verizon ownership.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/09/frontiers-3-million-users-to-become-verizon-users-in-latest-telco-merger/|title=Verizon to buy Frontier for $9.6 billion, says it will expand fiber network|first=Jon|last=Brodkin|date=September 5, 2024|access-date=November 27, 2024|website=Ars Technica}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

==Operating companies==
Prior to the merger with Bell Atlantic, GTE owned the following operating companies in the US:<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://wutc.wa.gov/rms2.nsf/0/49FB7A16D255FC2988256ED80059A6C2/$file/UT-041293%2BInitial%2BFiling%2BVerizon%2B071904.pdf |title=Affiliated Interest Agreement – Advice No. 26. Verizon Northwest, Inc. Exhibit 1. |access-date=November 14, 2020 |archive-date=June 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607085124/http://wutc.wa.gov/rms2.nsf/0/49FB7A16D255FC2988256ED80059A6C2/$file/UT-041293%2BInitial%2BFiling%2BVerizon%2B071904.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*[[Contel of Minnesota]], Inc.
*[[Contel of the South]], Inc. ([[Alabama]], [[Indiana]], [[Michigan]])
*[[GTE Alaska]] Incorporated
*[[GTE Arkansas]] Incorporated
*[[GTE California]] Incorporated ([[Arizona]], California, [[Nevada]])
*[[GTE Florida]] Incorporated
*[[Hawaiian Telcom|GTE Hawaiian Telephone Company]], Inc.
*[[GTE Midwest]] Incorporated ([[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], [[Nebraska]])
*[[GTE North]] Incorporated ([[Illinois]], [[Indiana]], [[Michigan]], [[Ohio]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Wisconsin]])
*[[GTE Northwest]] Incorporated ([[Idaho]], [[Oregon]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]])
*[[GTE South]] Incorporated ([[Illinois]], [[Kentucky]], [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], [[Wisconsin]])
*[[GTE Southwest]] Incorporated ([[Arkansas]], [[New Mexico]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Texas]])
*[[Frontier Communications West Coast|GTE West Coast]] Incorporated (California)

Following the merger of GTE and Bell Atlantic, some of these companies and/or access lines have been sold off to other companies, such as [[Alltel]], [[Alaska Telephone Exchange Acquisition Corporation|ATEAC]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2000/page-29760214.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711072119/http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2000/page-29760214.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 11, 2012|title=News Releases – Verizon News}}</ref> [[The Carlyle Group]], [[CenturyTel]], [[Citizens Communications|Citizens/Frontier Communications]], and [[Valor Telecom]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Companies}}
* [https://web.archive.org/*/http://www.gte.com GTE.com] (Archive)
* [http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=18777 ‘Birthplace of GTE’ historical marker in Richland Center, Wisconsin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924030822/http://www.hmdb.org/Marker.asp?Marker=18777 |date=September 24, 2015 }}

{{Verizon}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gte}}
[[Category:Verizon]]
[[Category:Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Technology companies disestablished in 2000]]
[[Category:Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange]]
[[Category:Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange]]
[[Category:Defunct companies based in Connecticut]]
[[Category:Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1934]]
[[Category:American companies established in 1934]]
[[Category:2000 disestablishments in Connecticut]]
[[Category:1934 establishments in Wisconsin]]
[[Category:2000 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:American companies disestablished in 2000]]