 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | telecommunications |
| Predecessor | GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) |
| Founded | 1998 |
| Defunct | 2005 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Ericsson Telent |
| Owner | GEC (1998–1999) Marconi plc (1999–2003) Marconi Corporation plc (2003–2006) |
Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GEC Hong Kong, and ATC South Africa.
In December 1999, it became the principal subsidiary of Marconi plc, formed by renaming the remainder of GEC when GEC's defence arm, Marconi Electronic Systems, was sold to British Aerospace to form BAE Systems. Marconi plc was restructured to Marconi Corporation plc in May 2003.
Marconi Corporation used the cash raised by selling the defence arm to buy US telecoms companies, with the aim of becoming a major telecommunications systems provider. After losing most of its value in the subsequent dot-com bubble crash, and failing to win major contracts, in 2006 Ericsson acquired a majority of Marconi Corporation. The remainder of Marconi Corporation was renamed Telent.