It would later merge with Western Utilities Corporation and its affiliates in 1964; the number-three (non-Bell System) provider, Continental Telephone (ConTel), in 1991; and former Bell System member Bell Atlantic in 2000.
GTE was made up of many small "mom and pop" telephone companies that had been purchased to form the General Telephone System, this led the California Public Utilities Commission, in the mid-1960s to proclaim GTE "the worst telephone company in California, bar none."
However, in the years following the report, GTE replaced most of its switching equipment, and much of its plant in Southern California.
This led to a higher level of service compared to Pacific Bell.
GTE California completed the transition from mechanical to electronic switching by 1992.