The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing further back than that, until 2000, when it was acquired by Bell Atlantic, which changed its name to Verizon.

That division became known as GTE Internetworking, and was later spun off into the independent company Genuity (a name recycled from another Internet company GTE acquired in 1997) to satisfy Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements regarding the GTE–Bell Atlantic merger that created Verizon.

[5] GTE operated in Canada via large interests in subsidiary companies such as BC Tel and Quebec-Téléphone.

[6] In the Caribbean, CONTEL purchased several major stakes in the newly independent countries of the British West Indies (namely in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago).

During World War II, General Telephone helped install phone service for military facilities.

General Telephone's holdings included 15 telephone companies across 20 states by 1951, when Donald C. Power was named president of the company under chairman and long-time GT executive Morris F. LaCroix, replacing the retiring Harold Bozell (president 1940 – 1951).

In 1974, GTE worked with American Telephone & Telegraph in a project to create satellite stations.

In 1979, GTE purchased Telenet to establish a presence in the growing packet switching data communications business.

In April 1988, after the retirement of Theodore F. Brophy, James L. "Rocky" Johnson was promoted from his position as president and chief operating officer to CEO of GTE; he was appointed chairman in 1991.

[15] Under Johnson's leadership, GTE divested its 50% ownership of US Sprint, the nation's third largest long-distance company.

He also orchestrated the sale of Sylvania and the merger with Contel, creating the 2nd largest telephone company in the United States.

[19] Additional ex-GTE territories in California, Florida, and Texas were sold to Frontier in 2015 and transferred in 2016, ending Verizon's landline operations outside of the historic Bell Atlantic footprint.