GEC (General Electric Company)

History

The General Electric Company (GEC) was a British telecommunications and electronics company that operated for over a century, from 1889 to 1999. The GEC traded in a large number of electrical goods, particularly specialising in lamps in the early stages of its existence. However, the outbreak of World War I created a massive new market for GEC, which expanded correspondingly.

At one point GEC became the largest employer in Britain, making an enormous number of electrical goods – among them telephones – in particular phones used by the British Admiralty. A series of mergers created the company GEC-Plessey telecommunications in 1988, and the following year GEC and Seimens AG formed a joint company, providing equipment for the avionic and naval businesses. GEC was eventually broken up in 1999, when it’s defence arm was sold to British Aerospace.  In 2005 Ericsson purchased the bulk of the remainder of the company.