GTE Corp.

formerly (1959–82) General Telephone and Electronics Corp.

Former U.S. holding company for several U.S. and international telephone companies. It specialized in providing telephone service to rural areas. The company, founded in 1926 as Associated Telephone Utilities to unite various independent phone companies, went bankrupt in the Great Depression and was later reorganized as General Telephone. In the 1950s it became a manufacturer of electronic phone equipment, merging with Sylvania Electronics in 1958. GTE and Bell Atlantic (one of the “Baby Bells”) merged to become Verizon Communications in 2000.

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