General Telephone and Electronics

General Telephone and Electronics (GTE) was the largest of the "independent" telephone companies during the days of the Bell System. It would later merge with the second largest independent, Continental Telephone.

In recent years GTE merged with Bell Atlantic to form Verizon.

U.S. subsidiaries

GTE provided local telephone service in a large number of areas of the U.S.

They also owned Automatic Electric, a telephone equipment supplier similar in many ways to Western Electric.

Foreign subsidiaries

GTE operated in Canada via controlling interest in subsidiary companies such as BC TEL and Quebec Tel.

Its former Canadian subsidiaries have combined with the former Alberta Government Telephones (AGT) to create TELUS, the second largest telecommunications carrier in Canada.