In 1872, Béla Egger founded a telegraph manufacturing company under the name ΄΄ Egger B΄΄. In 1886, at the first Hungarian industrial exhibition, the company won first prize with its telegraph machines. It attracted the interest of the Hungarian railways and post offices by undertaking public works. In 1887 it was renamed ΄΄Egger B. and Partners΄΄ and from a manual workshop it was replaced by a motorized factory. At the same time, it undertook the construction of Hungary’s first telephone exchange in Timisoara. In 1897 it was renamed the ΄΄United Incandescent Lamp and Electricity Company΄΄ (in Hungarian: ΄΄Egyesült Izzólámpa és Villamossági R.t.΄΄) and collaborated with the largest telephone company in the world, Western Electric Co. In 1928, the telephone division of the ΄΄United Incandescent Lamp and Electricity Company΄΄ founded the subsidiary ΄΄Standard International Company΄΄ (in Hungarian: ΄΄Standard Villamossagi Reszvenytarsasag R.T.΄΄), which undertook the manufacture of radios and telephones. From 1928 to 1948, it was the dominant player in Hungary, when it was dissolved at the end of World War II, (it was nationalized).