British Telecoms
A history of nationalization, privatization, and regulation of British telecoms.
Contents
History
The General Post Office (GPO) was a government department led by the postmaster general, a ministerial office. It was a state monopoly by royal charter for all communications from specific senders to specific recipients. This was eventually interpreted to cover all telecommunications as the technology emerged.
Established in 1922, the British Broadcasting Company was the sole licensee for broadcasting. Five years later it was restructured into the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The GPO was responsible for policing and prosecuting unlicensed broadcasters.
In 1969, Wilson restructured the GPO through the Post Office Act. It became the Post Office, a state owned company, and the ministerial responsibilities were reassigned to the minister of Posts and Telecommunications. That position would be entirely abolished in 1974 and responsibilities went to the Home Office.
Thatcher initiated a restructuring shortly following the 1979 election. Telecommunications were taken over by British Telecom (BT) in 1981. The monopoly was broken in 1982 by licensing to Mercury Communications. The Telecommunications Act passed in 1984 privatized BT as British Telecommunications. By 1997, all shares held by the government were sold.
The Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) was initially established to regulate the new industry, but Ofcom was established in 2002 to take over that role.
Over time BT was reorganized such that the BT Group is a holding corporation that wholly owns BT as well as other BT-branded companies.