A giant telecommunications firm was formed.

ITT Corp. and France’s state-owned Cie. Generale d’Electricite formally agreed to a joint venture that combines the companies’ telecommunications and some fiber optic cable operations. CGE and ITT will merge the operations into a new venture managed by CGE and incorporated in the Netherlands. It will have annual sales of about $12 billion with 150,000 employees--including about 99,000 former ITT workers--in 75 countries. It will be the world’s second-largest telecommunications group, behind American Telephone & Telegraph Co.