Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later STC plc) was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies including pulse-code modulation (PCM) and optical fibres.
The company was founded in 1883 in London as International Western Electric by the Western Electric Company, shortly after Western Electric became the telephone equipment supplier for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in the United States. In 1925, Western Electric divested itself of all foreign operations and sold International Western Electric to International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), in part to thwart antitrust actions by the American government.[1] In mid-1982, STC became an independent company and was listed on the London Stock Exchange; for a time it was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was bought by Nortel in 1991.