BT Company Information

How big is BT’s company/market?

BT are a very big company! With operations in 170 countries, they are a globally recognised brand, employing well over 100,000 people. They are also responsible for the entire landline phone infrastructure in the UK, and how often have we seen BT vans driving round, or seen BT exchanges? Quite simply, BT are huge, but they mange the rare trick of being huge whilst still being effective, and not turning into some unwieldy, monolithic monster.

In terms of the market for their products, the numbers are staggering. BT already have 28 million fixed line connections. Given that the population of the UK is roughly around 60 million, 28 million lines is a nice high figure! Also, with 4 million BT Total Broadband subscribers, it’s fair to say that BT have a really decent market penetration.

Of course, if you’re one of the 24 million BT phone users who haven’t got BT Total Broadband, then what are you waiting for? Get yourself BT broadband today.

And for all 28 million of you, including the 4 million BT Total Broadband subscribers, why not treat yourself to BT Vision? It’s £30, and for that, you loads of telly, and you can record it all on the V-box. Get tons of TV with BT Vision today!.

The history of BT

The history of BT goes all the way back to 1846, with the birth of the Electric Telegraph Company. Ah, the old telegram service. Whenever you see those period films, people reading out a telegram, you’re seeing part of the birth of BT. The whole industry was seized by the government in 1870, under the Telegraph Act of 1868. (Interestingly, it was a clause in that Act, that allowed the government to take over the service, for a week, or longer if necessary, in times of civil unrest. Once they’d seized it, they kept it till it was privatised in 1984. That’s a long period of civil unrest!)

The service came under the jurisdiction of the Post Office, who rapidly began to expand the network, particularly into rural areas, and by 1912, the Post Office had built a massive monopoly on communications. The only exceptions were small, local-council-run telecoms networks, but they all foundered (with the exception of one: Kingston Communications, in Kingston-Upon-Hull). After that, the whole Post Office ran along though various World Wars and political changes, until it was nationalised in 1969, moving out from being a government department, and into the realms of being a public corporation. It also split down the middle, with one arm handling the post, and the other responsible for telecommunications (telephones and the like).

The next big events in the evolution of BT were in the early 80’s. First, in 1980, came the name change that would bring it closer to being BT, as it the Post Office telecommunications arm became British Telecom. Ah, and what a time it was, with the main character in their ads being a giant, yellow bird called Buzby (oh, how well we remember him!)

Soon after, a further upheaval occurred, that set the stage for the modern competition between telecoms companies. British Telecom totally separated from the Post Office in 1981, striking out on its own as a separate entity, and at the same time, legislation was passed allowing phone makers and service providers to deal directly with the public. That meant several things, but chief among them was the fact that it increased competition in a big way, allowing the customer access to better deals.

On the downside, it meant the gradual loss of all those beautiful old Bakelite phones, but technology has to move on! British Telecom carried on through the 80’s, through the “yuppies and Thatcher” era, continually improving the network and their services, and giving us another memorable advert in the form of Beattie, played by Maureen Lipman, with her famous line, “You get an ‘ology, you’re a scientist!”

The next big step in the company’s evolution was in 1991, when they realised all their previous names had been, frankly, a bit of a mouthful. And so, in 1991, they shortened it, and officially became BT, which provided landline access, a well as the first hints of internet access, and even mobile, in the form of BT Cellnet. (And people may well remember that in 2001 they sold off their mobile division. What happened to it? Why, it went off and became O2)

Since then, BT have continued to innovate and grow, with a major brand refresh in 2003 giving them their current “connected world” logo, followed by the launch of BT Mobile, their own mobile offering, that they ran differently to the old BT Cellnet system, meaning it cost them much less.

As of 2005, they have moved even more into the global arena, with a range of acquisitions giving them much stronger leverage overseas. They continue today, in their transformation from a traditional telecoms company into a provider of converged services. Networks, phones, internet, mobile… well, the list goes on, and with continuous development of their own infrastructure, they really are going big guns to be one of the leading providers of communications tools, anywhere, in the whole world.

Not bad for a company that began in 1846, sending crackly beeps down equally crackly wires!

Company Details

• BT Centre, 81 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AJ
• Registered in England no. 1800000
• VAT no. 245 7193 48

Contact Telephone Numbers:

• Residential: 0800 800 150
• Business: 0800 800 152
• General Enquiries: 0207 356 5000
• Call MobileShop.com: 0845 345 5000