GTE Rebounds in 4th Quarter, Year

STAMFORD, Conn. — GTE Corp., despite continued losses from its long-distance telephone venture, earned $268 million during the 1986 fourth quarter.

The fourth-quarter net income compared to a $1.02-billion loss reported during the year-ago period, which resulted from a $1.3-billion after-tax charge for restructuring.

For the full year, GTE earned $1.2 billion, compared to a $161-million loss for 1985.

GTE’s share of pretax losses of US Sprint and predecessor companies was $286 million in 1986, compared to pretax losses of $245 million in 1985. In 1985, GTE Sprint and GTE Telenet were wholly owned by GTE.

The company said the losses resulted primarily from lower prices and the high level of operating costs, including access charges, leased facilities and marketing expenses.

The company said Sprint losses, though less, but would continue through 1987, in part because of the construction of a fiber optic network. US Sprint is constructing a 23,000-mile fiber optic network.