In GTE sold its electrical equipment, brokerage information services, and cable television equipment businesses. GTE became the third-largest long-distance telephone company in through the acquisition of Southern Pacific Communications Company.
Through an agreement with the Department of Justice, GTE conceded to keep Sprint Communications separate from its other telephone companies and limit other GTE telephone subsidiaries in certain markets. In December Vanderslice resigned as president and chief operating officer. In GTE formalized its decision to concentrate on three core businesses: telecommunications, lighting, and precision metals.
James Rocky L. Johnson, a former senior vice-president, was named president and chief operating officer in Beginning in GTE spun off several operations to form joint ventures. Telecom, agreed to merge and form US Sprint Communications Company, with each parent retaining a 50 percent interest in the new firm.
That same year, GTE transferred its international transmission, overseas central office switching, and business systems operations to a joint venture with Siemens AG of Germany, which took 80 percent ownership of the new firm. Johnson succeeded Brophy as chairman and chief executive officer in and then relinquished his president's title the following year to Charles R.
Lee, a former senior vice-president. Johnson continued to streamline and consolidate operations, organizing telephone companies around a single national organization headquartered in the Dallas, Texas, area.
In GTE divested its consumer communications products unit as part of a telecommunications strategy to place increasing emphasis on the services sector. With an increasing emphasis on telecommunications, in GTE launched a program to become the first cellular provider offering nationwide service and introduced the nation's first rural service area, providing cellular service on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. In GTE reorganized its activities around three business groups: telecommunications products and services, telephone operations, and electrical products.
Following action or review by more than 20 governmental bodies, in March the merger of GTE and Contel was approved. Johnson and Lee maintained their positions as chairman and president, respectively, while Contel's Chairman Charles Wohlstetter became vice-chairman of GTE.
Contel's former president, Donald Weber, agreed to remain with the company during a six-month transition period, before leaving the merged company. After working as a Wall Street runner in the s and as a Hollywood screenwriter in the s, Wohlstetter returned to Wall Street in the s and became a financier.
In he made what he would later call a bad investment in an Alaskan oil company that would become the impetus for Contel. Wohlstetter was named chairman of the new corporation, Lucier was named president, and Maguire was named vice-president.
One of the company's first acquisitions was Central Western Company, which merged with Telephone Communications in to form the new parent Continental Telephone Company.
The acquisition of Central Western, along with Harfil, Inc. Continental based its early acquisition strategy on Kreigspiel, a historical war game German generals played at Prussian war colleges. Wohlstetter applied the tenets of the game to telephone company operations and amassed detailed information on each independent telephone company in the United States.
When those companies came up for sale, Wohlstetter and Maguire, who were pilots, and Lucier, whose wife was a pilot, would promptly fly off to meet the owners and negotiate purchase agreements. Many of the early acquisitions were made through exchanges of stock, including the merger with Independent Telephone Company that doubled the company's size and changed its name in the process to Continental Independent Telephone Corporation.
By the close of , Continental had acquired more than companies operating in 30 states. The company adopted another new name, Continental Telephone Corporation, in Also during Continental acquired 65 more telephone companies and again doubled its size. By Continental had acquired more than independent companies, had become the third-largest independent telephone company in the United States, and was one of the youngest companies ever listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Lucier died that year and was succeeded as president by Maguire, who moved up from a vice-presidency. Aside from its dominating telephone business, the company's activities by that time had grown to include cable television systems, directory publishing, equipment leasing, and data services. With the number of small independents having diminished considerably by , Continental's pace in acquiring telephone operating companies was reduced.
Continental sold its cable television business in , and after a sluggish economy had taken its toll on Continental's manufacturing and supply subsidiaries, those, too, were sold in Maguire resigned in because of health problems and was succeeded as president by James V. Napier, a former executive vice-president. That same year, Continental became the first telephone company outside the Bell system to install a digital telephone switching system, a move that provided improved network operating efficiency, allowed the introduction of new calling features, and started the transition away from operations dominated by rural service areas.
In response to the changing regulatory climate of the telephone industry, in Continental mapped out a diversification strategy into nonregulated businesses. Continental's first diversification move came in , with the acquisition of Executone, Inc.
By Continental had two million telephone access lines in service and had established its first fiber-optic cable, a high-speed, high-capacity telecommunications transmission mode. While Continental continued the process of upgrading its telephone operations, during the early s the company's focus turned to greater diversification. In July Continental entered the satellite business through a joint venture with Fairchild Industries, and a communications partnership firm, American Satellite Company, was formed to operate a network of earth-based stations that provided voice and data services.
To provide technology services to accommodate its expanding needs, Continental then acquired two consulting and research firms, Network Analysis Corporation and International Computing Company.
One year later, Continental hooked up with Fairchild Industries in a second joint venture called Space Communications Company, a provider of tracking and relay data services for such clients as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
After the Federal Communications Commission opened the door to licenses for 30 cellular phone markets in , Continental plunged into that field as well, acquiring sizable shares of cellular markets in Los Angeles, California; Washington, D. Continental also entered the credit card authorization business in , with the purchase of National Bancard Corporation. Two years later, Continental bolstered its interest in that business segment with the purchase of the Chase Merchants Services division of Chase Manhattan Bank.
GTE provided local telephone service to many areas of the U. When foreign ownership restrictions on telecommunications companies were introduced, GTE's ownership was grandfathered. Telus, GTE's Canadian subsidiaries were merged into the new parent, making it the second-largest telecommunications carrier in Canada.
Acquired byBell Atlantic en. Acquired by Bell Atlantic en. In , newly elected chairman Theodore F. Brophy reorganized the company along five global product lines: communications, lighting, consumer electronics, precision materials, and electrical equipment. GTE International was phased out during the reorganization, and GTE Products Corporation was formed to encompass both domestic and foreign manufacturing and marketing operations. In , another reorganization soon followed under new president Thomas A.
GTE Products Group was eliminated as an organizational unit and GTE Electrical Products, consisting of lighting, precision materials, and electrical equipment, was formed. In , GTE purchased Telenet to establish a presence in the growing packet switching data communications business.
In GTE sold its electrical equipment, brokerage information services, and cable television equipment businesses. GTE became the third-largest long-distance telephone company in through the acquisition of Southern Pacific Communications Company. Through an agreement with the Department of Justice, GTE conceded to keep Sprint Communications separate from its other telephone companies and limit other GTE telephone subsidiaries in certain markets. In December Vanderslice resigned as president and chief operating officer.
In , GTE formalized its decision to concentrate on three core businesses: telecommunications, lighting, and precision metals. Beginning in , GTE spun off several operations to form joint ventures.
That same year, GTE transferred its international transmission, overseas central office switching, and business systems operations to a joint venture with Siemens AG of Germany, which took 80 percent ownership of the new firm. In April , after the retirement of Theodore F. Brophy, James L. Under his leadership, GTE divested its consumer communications products unit as part of a telecommunications strategy to place increasing emphasis on the services sector.
With an increasing emphasis on telecommunications, in GTE launched a program to become the first cellular provider offering nationwide service and introduced the nation's first rural service area, providing cellular service on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. In , GTE reorganized its activities around three business groups: telecommunications products and services, telephone operations, and electrical products.
Following action or review by more than 20 governmental bodies, in March the merger of GTE and Contel was approved. In April , James L.
Charles "Chuck" Lee was named to succeed Johnson. Lee's first order of business was reduction of that obligation. The Telecommunications Act of promised to encourage competition among local phone providers, long distance services, and cable television companies.
Many leading telecoms prepared for the new competitive realities by aligning themselves with entertainment and information providers.
GTE, on the other hand, continued to focus on its core operations, seeking to make them as efficient as possible. GTE hoped to cross-sell its large base of wireline customers on wireless, data and video services, launching Tele-Go, a user-friendly service that combined cordless and cellular phone features. The company bought broadband spectrum cellular licenses in Atlanta, Seattle, Cincinnati and Denver, and formed a joint venture with SBC Communications to enhance its cellular capabilities in Texas.
In , the company undertook a state test of video conferencing services, as well as a video dialtone VDT experiment that proposed to offer cable television programming to , homes by The early s reorganization included a Lee's fivefold strategy had begun to bear fruit by the mids. The GTE operating companies retained by Verizon are now 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. For other uses, see GTE disambiguation. Former type. New York Times.
0コメント