Everything about Gte totally explained
General Telephone and Electronics (
GTE) was the largest of the "independent"
US telephone companies during the days of the
Bell System. It acquired the second largest independent,
Continental Telephone (ConTel) in 1991. They also 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 a large number of areas of the U.S. through
operating companies, much like how
AT&T provided local telephone service through its 22
Bell Operating Companies.
The company also 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 (a name recycled from a another Internet company GTE acquired in 1997) as part of the GTE-Bell Atlantic merger that created Verizon.
GTE operated in
Canada via large interests in subsidiary companies such as
BC TEL and
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 the privatized
Alberta Government Telephones (AGT)) to create
BCT.Telus, GTE's Canadian subsidiaries were merged into the new parent, making it the second-largest telecommunications carrier in Canada. As such, its successor, Verizon Communications, is the only foreign telecommunications company with a greater than 20% interest in a Canadian carrier.
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).
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.
Merger with Bell Atlantic
Bell Atlantic bought GTE on June 30, 2000, renaming itself
Verizon Communications. The seven GTE operating companies retained by Verizon are now collectively known as
Verizon West division of Verizon (including east coast service territories). Six others were sold off:
Retained by Verizon
Sold/transferred
GTE Alaska Inc., sold to ATEAC
GTE Arkansas, Inc. sold to CenturyTel
GTE Hawaiian Telephone Company, Inc., later Verizon Hawaii, Inc., sold to The Carlyle Group in 2005
Micronesian Telecommunications
GTE Midwest Inc., later Verizon Midwest, Inc., sold to CenturyTel
Contel of Minnesota, Inc., sold to Citizens Communications
GTE of Iowa - Spun off to Iowa Telecom
Verizon Dominicana (CODETEL), sold to América Móvil
Telecomunicaciones de Puerto Rico d/b/a Puerto Rico Telephone, assets sold to América Móvil
GTE Electronic Systems to General Dynamics
GTE Wireless (assets in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, New Mexico, South Carolina and Texas) sold to Alltel.
Further Information
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