53-498: The Customer Service System ( CSS ) of the BT Group (previously British Telecommunications) is the core operational support system for BT, bringing in 70% of income for the company (figures from 1997). BT rolled out CSS nationally in 1989 and provided an integrated system for telephony—order handling, repair handling and billing. BT Customer Service System (BT/CSS) was developed by Logica in 1984, costing £1bn to implement, representing
106-680: A royal warrant and has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange , and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index . BT controls a number of large subsidiaries. Its BT Enterprise division supplies telecoms services to corporate and government customers worldwide, and its BT Consumer division supplies telephony , broadband , and subscription television services in the United Kingdom to around 18 million customers. A number of privately owned electrical telegraph companies operated in
159-653: A 4G service as BT Mobile BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson announced that BT plans to migrate all of its customers onto the IP network by 2025, switching off the company's ISDN network. On 15 January 2016, BT received approval by the Competition and Markets Authority to acquire EE . The deal was officially completed on 29 January 2016 with Deutsche Telekom then owning 12% of BT, while Orange S.A. owned 4%. National Telephone Company The National Telephone Company ( NTC )
212-689: A 60% drop in share price in sixteen months. Philip Hampton joined as CFO, and in April 2001 Sir Iain Vallance was replaced as chairman by recognised turn around expert Sir Christopher Bland . In May 2001, BT carried out corporate Europe's largest ever rights issue , allowing it to raise £5.9 billion. A few days before, it sold stakes in Japan Telecom , in mobile operator J-Phone Communications, and in Airtel of India to Vodafone . In June 2001, BT's directory business
265-477: A debt of £30 billion, much of which was acquired during the bidding round for the 3rd generation mobile telephony (commonly known as 3G) licences. It had also failed in its series of proposed global mergers, and the funds flowing from its then virtual monopoly of the UK market place had been largely removed. It was also headed by two executives who had little support from the London Stock Exchange , particularly in light of
318-536: A new billing system known as Geneva/Oneview/Avalon. This was to support the migration to WLR3. BT Group BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom ) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London , England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line , broadband and mobile services in the UK, and also provides subscription television and IT services . BT's origins date back to
371-516: A new company for the amalgamation of all their associated companies. However, the government declined to issue the proposed new company with a licence to operate or to allow the transfer of an existing licence. The UTC then decided to use one of its provincial companies as a vehicle for their policy of amalgamation, starting in 1889 with the merger of the UTC with the Lancashire and Cheshire Telephone Company and
424-479: A package of broadcast rights for the Premier League from the 2013–14 to 2015–16 season, broadcasting 38 matches from each season. In February 2013, BT acquired ESPN Inc. 's UK and Ireland TV channels, continuing its expansion into sports broadcasting. ESPN America and ESPN Classic were both closed, while ESPN continued to be operated by BT. On 9 November 2013, BT announced it had acquired exclusive rights to
477-583: A range of services, each organisation would be able to focus on their respective service, with dedicated management. By law, the Post Office retained the exclusive right to operate the UK national telecom network, (although since 1914 had licensed Hull City Council to operate its own local telephone network, Kingston Communications ). The 1970s was a period of great expansion for the Post Office. Most exchanges were modernised and expanded, and many services, such as STD and international dialling were extended. By
530-476: A service (SaaS) applications. In the early days of its fibre broadband rollout, BT said it would deliver fibre-to-the-premises ( FTTP ) to around 25% of the Country, with the rest catered for by the slower fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which uses copper wiring to deliver the final stretch of the connection. In 2014, with less than 0.7% of the company's fibre network being FTTP, BT dropped the 25% target, saying that it
583-592: A uniform organisation over eight districts; Metropolitan, Southern, Western, Midland, North-Western, Northern, Scotland and Ireland. Following the Telegraph Acts of 1892 and 1896, NTC trunk lines were acquired and transferred to the Post Office between 1896 and 1897. In 1901, the Postmaster General and the NTC signed an agreement to prevent unnecessary duplication of plant and wasteful competition in London . In 1905,
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#1732881066013636-572: Is no longer municipally controlled. The assets of the National Telephone Company were acquired by the UK Government to form Post Office Telephones in late 1911. Post Office engineers in the inter-war period had considerable expertise in both telecommunications and hearing assistive devices. Transistors were invented by Bell Telephone Laboratories in the US in 1948, however it was not until
689-508: The Champions League and Europa League for £897m, from the 2015 season, with some free games remaining including both finals. On 1 November 2014, BT created a new central business services organisation to provide customer services and improve operational efficiency. On 24 November 2014, shares in BT rose considerably on the announcement that the company was in talks to buy back O2 , while at
742-678: The Electricity Supply Board , the Irish state owned power provider. This venture, entitled Ocean, found its main success through the launch of Ireland's first subscription-free dial-up ISP, oceanfree.net. As a telecoms company it found much less success, mainly targeting corporate customers. BT acquired 100% of this venture in 1999. Over the period 1980 to 2000, BT and other providers adopted Internet product strategies when it became commercially advantageous. In June 1994 BT and MCI Communications launched Concert Communications Services which
795-785: The English National Health Service (NHS). In 2005, BT made a number of acquisitions. In February 2005, BT acquired Infonet (now re-branded BT Infonet), a large telecoms company based in El Segundo, California , giving BT access to new geographies. It also acquired the Italian company Albacom. Then in April 2005, it bought Radianz from Reuters (now rebranded as BT Radianz), which expanded BT's coverage and provided BT with more buying power in certain countries. In August 2006, BT acquired online electrical retailer Dabs.com for £30.6 million. The BT Home Hub manufactured by Inventel
848-552: The US Department of Justice , and the US Federal Communications Commission and looked set to proceed. However, in light of pressure from investors reacting to the slide in BT's share price on the London Stock Exchange , BT reduced its bid price for MCI, releasing MCI from its exclusivity clause and allowing it to speak to other interested parties. On 1 October 1997, Worldcom made a rival bid for MCI which
901-580: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1846 onwards. Among them were: The Telegraph Act 1868 passed the control of all these to the Postal Telegraphs Department of the newly formed General Post Office (GPO). The Telegraph Act 1869 granted the GPO a monopoly over communications. With the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 the GPO began to provide telephone services from some of its telegraph exchanges. It
954-527: The 1880 ruling on the Telegraph Act 1869 mandated a nationalised service – which was instated in 1911 prior to the absorption of the NTC into the GPO in 1912. The trunk network was unified under GPO control in 1896 and the local distribution network in 1912. A few municipally owned services remained outside of GPO control. These were Kingston upon Hull , Portsmouth and Guernsey . Hull still retains an independent operator, Kingston Communications , though it
1007-506: The 1970s, resulting in the EPSS , International Packet Switched Service , and Packet Switch Stream . In 1979 the Conservatives decided that telecommunications should be fully separated from the Post Office. The British Telecom brand was introduced in 1980. On 1 October 1981, this became the official name of Post Office Telecommunications, which became a state-owned corporation independent of
1060-460: The Concert managed network was extensive. Although Concert continued signing customers, its rate of revenue growth slowed, so that in 1999 David Dorman was made CEO with a brief to revive it. In late 2000, the BT and AT&T boards fell-out, partly due to each partner's excess debt and the resulting board room clear-outs, partly due to Concert's extensive annual losses. AT&T recognized that Concert
1113-495: The GPO becoming a public corporation, Post Office Telecommunications . The British Telecom brand was introduced in 1980, and became independent of the Post Office in 1981, officially trading under the name. British Telecom was privatised in 1984, becoming British Telecommunications plc , with some 50 percent of its shares sold to investors. The Government sold its remaining stake in further share sales in 1991 and 1993. BT holds
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#17328810660131166-825: The NTC absorbed the Northern District Telephone Company and the South of England Telephone Company, in 1892 the Western Counties and South Wales Company and the Sheffield Telephone Exchange and Electric Light Company and in 1893 the Telephone Company of Ireland Limited. Throughout this period the NTC also took over smaller telephone companies. With the policy of amalgamation, the NTC, under the direction of William E L Gaine as general manager and Dane Sinclair as engineer in chief, set about creating
1219-514: The NTC. The 'National Telephone Company Limited' name being retained. In 1886, it built an ornate red brick and terracotta building 19, Newhall Street , now grade I listed , for its Birmingham Central exchange, opened in 1887. In 1899 it commissioned Telephone House in London's Temple Lane. The building still bears the company's NT logo and some cherubs holding what appear to be old style telephone handsets. The amalgamation policy continued; in 1890
1272-603: The Post Office under the provisions of the British Telecommunications Act 1981 . In 1982 BT's monopoly on telecommunications was broken with the granting of a licence to Mercury Communications . On 19 July 1982, the Government announced its intention to sell shares in British Telecom to the public. On 1 April 1984, British Telecommunications was incorporated as a public limited company (plc) in anticipation of
1325-539: The Postmaster General and the NTC signed a further agreement for the purchase of the NTC's system on the expiry of its licence on 31 December 1911, an option for the Post Office that formed a part of the original licence agreement of 1881. On 31 December 1911 the NTC ceased to formally trade. The Postmaster General took over the NTC and its telephone systems and the NTC passed into liquidation. The National Telephone Company also issued stamps in various values to enable
1378-733: The acquisition of Lynx Technology. BT acquired Wire One Communications in June 2008 and folded the company into "BT Conferencing", its existing conferencing unit, as a new video business unit In July 2008, BT acquired the online business directory firm Ufindus for £20 million in order to expand its position in the local information market in GB. On 28 July 2008, BT acquired Ribbit , of Mountain View, California , "Silicon Valley's First Phone Company". Ribbit provides Adobe Flash / Flex APIs, allowing web developers to incorporate telephony features into their software as
1431-531: The early 1970s, subscribers in most cities could dial direct to Western Europe, the US, and Canada; by the end of the decade, most of the world could be dialled direct. The System X digital switching platform was developed, and the first digital exchanges began to be installed. The Post Office also procured their own fleet of vans, based on the Commer FC model. Post Office Telecommunications researched and implemented data communications using packet switching in
1484-480: The failed merger led to their removal. As BT owned Concert in 1994, and still wanted access to the North American market, it needed a new partner. An AT&T /BT option had been mooted in the past, but stopped on regulatory grounds due to their individual virtual monopolies in their home markets. By 1996, this had receded to the point where a deal was possible, and a deal was consummated in 1998. At its height,
1537-689: The first customers on to 21CN was successfully tested at Adastral Park in Suffolk. In January 2007, BT acquired Sheffield-based ISP, PlusNet plc, adding 200,000 customers. BT stated that PlusNet will continue to operate separately out of its Sheffield head-office. On 1 February 2007, BT announced agreed terms to acquire International Network Services Inc. (INS), an international provider of IT consultancy and software. In February 2007, Sir Michael Rake succeeded Sir Christopher Bland. In April that year, they acquired COMSAT International, followed in October by
1590-521: The first online not-for-profit fundraising service for UK charities called BT MyDonate as part of its investment to the community. The service will pass on 100% of all donations made through the site to the charity, and unlike other services which take a proportion as commission and charge charities for using their services, BT will only pass on credit/debit card charges for each donation. The service allows people to register to give money to charity or collect fundraising donations. BT developed MyDonate with
1643-664: The founding in 1846 of the Electric Telegraph Company , the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network. BT Group as it came to be started in 1912, when the General Post Office , a government department, took over the system of the National Telephone Company becoming the monopoly telecoms supplier in the United Kingdom. The Post Office Act of 1969 led to
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1696-579: The growing "office automation" market was addressed through Merlin-branded desktop computers made by ICL , with built-in modems to communicate over the phone network. Later products included the Merlin Tonto – developed by ICL from the Sinclair QL home computer – and the Merlin M4000 , a rebadged Logica computer. In the 1990s, BT entered the Irish telecommunications market through a joint venture with
1749-543: The largest computer project undertaken in Europe and the largest integrated database in the world, at the time. In 2005, the CSS databases deployed by BT handled 23 million customers, with 13 terabytes of data spread out over 28 mainframe images. The databases supported 230 million transactions per day generated by over 40,000 users. CSS is still used by BT but it is now controlled by Openreach. BT retail migrated all accounts from CSS to
1802-454: The mid-1960s that a transistorised oscillator was introduced to make the calling sound on a telephone in the UK. In 1969 the GPO, a government department, became the Post Office , a nationalised industry separate from government. Post Office Telecommunications was set up as a division of the Post Office, in October 1969. The Post Office Act 1969 was passed to provide for greater efficiency in post and telephone services; rather than run
1855-455: The name change not much else changed in operations for another 12 months. On 14 May 2009, BT said it was cutting up to 15,000 jobs in the coming year after it announced its results for the year to 31 March 2009. Then in July 2009, BT offered workers a long holiday for an up front sum of 25% of their annual wage or a one-off payment of £1000 if they agree to go part-time. On 6 April 2011, BT launched
1908-489: The new plc were owned by the Government. In November 1984, 50.2% of the new company was offered for sale to the public and employees. Shares were listed in London, New York, and Toronto and the first day of trading on was 3 December 1984. The Government sold half its remaining interest in December 1991 and the other half in July 1993. In July 1997, the new Labour Government relinquished its Special Share ("Golden Share"), retained at
1961-553: The passing of the Telecommunications Bill. This Bill received royal assent on 12 April as the Telecommunications Act 1984 , and the transfer to British Telecommunications plc from British Telecom as a statutory corporation of its business, its property, its rights and liabilities took place on 6 August 1984. The remainder of the statutory corporation British Telecom was dissolved in 1994. Initially all shares in
2014-437: The same time confirmed it was also in talks to acquire EE . BT subsequently entered into exclusive talks to buy EE for £12.5 billion on 15 December 2014 and confirmed on 5 February 2015, subject to regulatory approval. The deal combined BT's 10 million retail customers and EE's 24.5 million direct mobile subscribers. Deutsche Telekom would own 12% of BT, while Orange S.A. would own 4%. In March 2015, BT launched
2067-447: The support of Cancer Research UK , Changing Faces , KidsOut , NSPCC and Women's Aid . In March 2013, BT was allocated 4G spectrum in the UK following an auction and assignment by Ofcom, after paying £201.5m. On 1 August 2013, BT launched its first television channels, BT Sport , to compete with rival broadcaster Sky Sports . Plans for the channels' launch came about when it was announced in June 2012 that BT had been awarded
2120-558: The time of the flotation, which had effectively given it the power to block a takeover of the company, and to appoint two non-executive directors to the Board. The company changed its trading name to "BT" on 2 April 1991. In 1996 Peter Bonfield was appointed CEO and chairman of the executive committee, promising a "rollercoaster ride". In the early 1980s, BT Merlin was established as a business unit of British Telecom, at first to sell products such as phone systems to small businesses. In 1983,
2173-446: Was "far less relevant today" because of improvements made to the headline speed of FTTC, which had doubled to 80 Mbit/s since its fibre broadband rollout was first announced. To supplement FTTC, BT offered an 'FTTP on Demand' product. In January 2015, BT stopped taking orders for the on-demand product. On 1 April 2009, BT Engage IT was created from the merger of two previous BT acquisitions, Lynx Technology and Basilica. Apart from
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2226-537: Was a British telephone company from 1881 until 1911 which brought together smaller local companies in the early years of the telephone. Under the Telephone Transfer Act 1911 it was taken over by the General Post Office (GPO) in 1912. Three years after the first telephone company, The Telephone Company (Bells Patents) Ltd , appeared in London (in fact it was the first in Europe), the National Telephone Company
2279-473: Was a $ 1 billion joint venture between the two companies. Its aim was to build a network which would provide easy global connectivity to multinational corporations. This alliance progressed further on 3 November 1996 when the two companies announced that they had agreed to a merger, creating a global telecommunications company called Concert plc. The proposal gained approval from the European Commission ,
2332-550: Was a threat to its ambitions if left intact, and so negotiated a deal where Concert was split in two in 2001: North America and Eastern Asia went to AT&T, the rest of the world and $ 400M to BT. BT's remaining Concert assets were merged into its BT Ignite, later BT Global Services group. In 2000, BT acquired Esat Telecom Group plc , and all its subsidiary companies, and Ireland On Line . It also purchased Telenor 's minority shareholding in Esat Digifone . The Esat Telecom Group
2385-441: Was accomplished via a share-swap, all British Telecommunications plc shareholders received one mmO2 plc and one BT Group plc (of which British Telecommunications is now a wholly owned subsidiary) share for each share they owned. British Telecommunications plc was de-listed on 16 November, and the two new companies started trading on 19 November. At the end of the series of sales, Sir Peter Bonfield resigned in October 2001. Bonfield
2438-449: Was also launched in June 2006. In October 2006, BT confirmed that it would be investing 75% of its total capital spending, put at £10 billion over five years, in its new Internet Protocol (IP) based 21st century network (21CN). Annual savings of £1 billion per annum were expected when the transition to the new network was to have been completed in 2010, with over 50% of its customers to have been transferred by 2008. That month
2491-704: Was confirmed in 1880 that the 1869 Act included telephony even though the telephone had not been invented when the Act was first conceived. In 1882, the Postmaster-General , Henry Fawcett started to issue licences to operate a telephone service to private businesses and the telephone system grew under the GPO in some areas and private ownership in others. The GPO's main competitor, the National Telephone Company (NTC), emerged in this market by absorbing other private telephone companies. It controlled most of telephony in Britain before
2544-581: Was followed by a counter-bid from GTE . BT sold its stake in MCI to Worldcom in 1998 for £4,159 million. As part of the deal, BT also bought out from MCI its 24.9% interest in Concert Communications, thereby making Concert a wholly owned part of BT. The reaction to the failure of the deal in the City of London was critical of then Chairman Iain Vallance and CEO Peter Bonfield , and the lack of confidence from
2597-598: Was formed on 10 March 1881, as a provincial subsidiary of the United Telephone Company Limited (UTC). The NTC was initially formed to develop and operate telephone services in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Ulster and parts of Scotland, taking over UTC operations in those places. The UTC developed other similar provincial companies throughout the British Isles between 1881 and 1885. The UTC then wished to create
2650-521: Was replaced by O2 plc in a further share-swap in 2005, and subsequently bought in an agreed takeover by Telefónica for £18 billion and delisted. In 2004, BT launched Consult 21, a consultation organisation that was to aid BT 21CN in the eventual conversion to digital telephony. In 2004, BT was awarded the contract to deliver and manage N3, a secure and fast broadband network for the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) program, on behalf of
2703-433: Was replaced by former Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen . During Bonfield's tenure the share price went from £4 to £15, and back again to £5. Bonfield's salary to 31 March 2001 was a basic of £780,000 (increasing to £820,000) plus a £481,000 bonus and £50,000 of other benefits including pension. He also received a deferred bonus, payable in shares three years' later, of £481,000, and additional bonuses of £3.3 million. mmO2 plc
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#17328810660132756-599: Was sold as Yell Group to a combination of private equity firms Apax Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for £2.1 billion. A demerger followed in November 2001, when the former mobile telecommunications business of BT, BT Cellnet, was hived off as a separate business named " mmO2 ". This included BT owned or operated networks in other countries, including BT Cellnet (UK), Esat Digifone (Ireland), and Viag Interkom (Germany). All networks now owned or operated by mmO2 (except Manx Telecom ) were renamed as O2. The de-merger
2809-622: Was split in two with the landline and internet operations were combining with Ocean to become part of BT Ignite. Esat Group was renamed Esat BT in July 2002, and eventually BT Ireland in April 2005. Esat Digifone became part of BT Wireless, before being spun off into a separate independent company mmo2 plc (now Telefónica Europe ). EsatBT installed the first DSL lines in Ireland, to try and compete heavily with former state telecoms company Eircom and operate one exchange, in Limerick . By 2001, BT had
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