25 years since British Telecom was privatised

British Telecom's roots go all the way back to 1848 when it became the worlds first telecommunications company. However, by the 1980s, a decision was taken to privatise it and increase innovation within the new company to benefit customers as well as raising money for the government (£3.9billion).

The launch of BT shares on the London Stock Exchange was a big event and initially, the shares were priced at 130p each. The launch was aimed at small investors and was the first to be targeted by a widespread marketing campaign. By the end of their first day, the price had reached 170p.

Over the years, the now privatised BT has had to defend itself against allegations of preventing competition from it's very dominant position and Oftel (now Ofcom) was created to ensure it didn't abuse it's position.

With privatisation came the need to maximise profits and job numbers have been cut. In 1984, BT had a staff of 241,000 - it now employs 107,000. Revenue has grown from £6.8billion 25 years ago to £21.4billion. However, a pretax profit of £990 million in 1984 became a £134 million loss in 2008. The share price 25 years on sits at around 145p, roughly the same as when it launched.

British Telecom - 25 years on since privatisation