General Telephone Corporation - Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock printed by American Bank Note Company. GTE Corporation, originally known as General Telephone & Electronics Corporation from 1955 to 1982, was the largest independent telephone provider in the United States during the era of the Bell System. The company commenced operations in 1926, with its origins extending even further back, and continued until 2000, when it was acquired by Bell Atlantic, which subsequently rebranded as Verizon. The Associated Telephone Utilities Company, based in Wisconsin, was established in 1926 but faced bankruptcy in 1933 amid the Great Depression. It was restructured as General Telephone in 1934. In 1991, GTE expanded its reach by acquiring Continental Telephone (ConTel), the third-largest independent telephone company at the time.

GTE also owned Automatic Electric, a supplier of telephone equipment comparable to Western Electric, and Sylvania Lighting, which was the only non-communications company under GTE's umbrella. The company provided local telephone services across various regions in the U.S. through its operating companies, similar to how American Telephone & Telegraph delivered local services via its 22 Bell Operating Companies. In 1997, GTE acquired BBN Planet, one of the pioneering Internet service providers. This division was subsequently renamed GTE Internetworking and was later spun off as an independent entity called Genuity, a name repurposed from another Internet company acquired by GTE in 1997. This move was made to comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations concerning the merger between GTE and Bell Atlantic that resulted in the formation of Verizon.