for bt introduced in 2003 . type public limited company traded as lse bt.a nyse bt industry telecommunications predecessor electric telegraph company general post office post office telecommunications founded 1969 ; 47 years ago 1969 headquarters bt centre london united kingdom area served worldwide key people sir michael rake chairman gavin patterson chief executive products fixedline telephony mobile telephony broadband internet fibre optic communication digital television it services revenue 17.851 billion 2015 1 operating income 3.733 billion 2015 1 profit 2.135 billion 2015 1 total assets 38.09 billion 2016 2 number of employees 88 500 2015 3 divisions business consumer ee global services wholesale subsidiaries bt ireland bt italia openreach plusnet website www.btplc.com bt group plc trading as bt is a holding company which owns british telecommunications plc 4 a british multinational telecommunications services company with head offices in london united kingdom . it has operations in around 180 countries . 5 bt s origins date back to the founding of the electric telegraph company in 1846 which developed a nationwide communications network . in 1912 the general post office a government department became the monopoly telecoms supplier in the united kingdom . the post office act of 1969 led to the gpo becoming a public corporation . british telecommunications trading as british telecom was formed in 1980 and became independent of the post office in 1981 . british telecommunications 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 has a primary listing on the london stock exchange a secondary listing on the new york stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . bt controls a number of large subsidiaries . bt global services division supplies telecoms services to corporate and government customers worldwide 6 and its bt consumer division supplies telephony broadband and subscription television services in great britain to around 18 million customers . 7 bt announced in february 2015 that it had agreed to acquire ee for 12.5 billion 8 and received final regulatory approval from the competition and markets authority on 15 january 2016 . 9 the transaction was completed on 29 january 2016 . 10 11 most of bt s profits are generated by its openreach subsidiary which controls the uk s last mile copper infrastructure . 12 since 2005 bt have been accused of abusing their control of openreach particularly by underinvesting in the uk s broadband infrastructure charging high prices and providing poor customer service . 13 contents 1 history 1.1 1878 to 1969 1.2 public corporation 1.3 1969 to 1982 1.4 1982 to 1991 1.5 1991 to 2001 1.6 2001 to 2006 1.7 2007 to 2012 1.8 2013 to present 2 operations 3 corporate affairs 3.1 headquarters 3.2 divisions 3.2.1 openreach 3.3 financial performance 3.4 pension fund 4 environmental record 5 controversies 5.1 abuse of monopoly position and underinvestment in infrastructure 5.2 aborted fibre to the home rollout 5.3 undermining of national security 5.4 world wide web hyperlink patent 5.5 behavioural targeting 5.6 alleged complicity with drone strikes in yemen and somalia 6 see also 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links history edit bt s origins date back to the establishment of the first telecommunications companies in britain . among them was the first commercial telegraph service the electric telegraph company established in 1846 . as these companies amalgamated and were taken over or collapsed the remaining companies were transferred to state control under the post office in 1912 . these companies were merged and rebranded as british telecom . 14 1878 to 1969 edit the bt tower originally the post office tower constructed between 1961 and 1964 in january 1878 alexander graham bell demonstrated his recently developed telephone to queen victoria at osborne house on the isle of wight . 15 a few days later the first telephone in britain was installed under licence from the general post office by engineers from david moseley and sons to connect the dantzic street premises of manchester hardware merchant mr. john hudson with his other premises in nearby shudehill . 15 as the number of installed telephones across the country grew it became sensible to consider constructing telephone exchanges to allow all the telephones in each city to be connected together . the first exchange was opened in london in august 1879 closely followed by the lancashire telephonic exchange in manchester . 15 from 1878 the telephone service in britain was provided by private sector companies such as the national telephone company and later by the general post office . in 1896 the national telephone company was taken over by the general post office . in 1912 it became the primary supplier of telecommunications services after the post office took over the private sector telephone service in gb except for a few local authority services . those services all folded within a few years the sole exception being kingston upon hull where the telephone department became present day kcom group . 14 public corporation edit converting the post office into a nationalised industry as opposed to a governmental department was first discussed in 1932 by lord wolmer . in 1932 the bridgeman committee produced a report that was rejected . 16 in 1961 more proposals were ignored . the post office remained a department of central government with the postmaster general sitting in cabinet as a secretary of state . 14 in march 1965 tony benn the acting postmaster general wrote to harold wilson the prime minister proposing that studies be undertaken aimed at converting the post office into a nationalised industry . a committee was set up to look into the advantages and disadvantages of the proposal and its findings were found to be favourable enough for the government to re establish a steering group on the organisation of the post office . after some initial deliberations that the business should be divided into five divisions ; post telecommunications savings giro and national data processing services it was decided that there should be two post and telecommunications . these events finally resulted in the introduction of the post office act 1969 . 14 on 1 october 1969 under the post office act of 1969 the post office ceased to be a government department and it became established as a public corporation . the act gave the post office the exclusive privilege of operating telecommunications systems with listed powers to authorise others to run such systems . effectively the general post office retained its telecommunications monopoly . 14 1969 to 1982 edit the british telecom t symbol logo used from 1980 to 1991 in 1977 the carter committee report recommended a further division of the two main services and for their relocation under two individual corporations . the findings contained in the report led to the renaming of post office telecommunications as british telecommunications trading as british telecom in 1980 although it remained part of the post office . 14 the british telecommunications act 1981 transferred the responsibility for telecommunications services from the post office creating two separate corporations post office ltd. and british telecommunications . at this time the first steps were taken to introduce competition into british telecommunications industry . in particular the act empowered the secretary of state for trade and industry as well as british telecommunications to license other operators to run public telecommunications systems . additionally a framework was established which enabled the secretary of state to set standards with the british standards institution bsi for apparatus supplied to the public by third parties and had the effect of requiring british telecommunications to connect approved apparatus to its systems . the secretary of state made use of these new powers and began the process of opening up the apparatus supply market where a phased programme of liberalisation was started in 1981 . in 1982 a licence was granted to cable & wireless to run a public telecommunications network through its subsidiary mercury communications ltd. 14 17 1982 to 1991 edit on 19 july 1982 the government formally announced its intention to privatise british telecommunications with the sale of up to 51 % of the company s shares to private investors . this intention was confirmed by the passing of the telecommunications act 1984 which received royal assent on 12 april that year . the transfer to british telecommunications plc of the business of british telecommunications the statutory corporation took place on 6 august 1984 and on 20 november 1984 more than 50 per cent of british telecommunications shares were sold to the public . at the time this was the largest share issue in the world . 18 the new legislation was intended to enable british telecommunications to become more responsive to competition in gb and to expand its operations globally . commercial freedom granted to british telecommunications allowed it to enter into new joint ventures and if it so decided to engage in the manufacture of its own apparatus . the company s transfer into the private sector continued in december 1991 when the government sold around half its remaining holding of 47.6 % of shares reducing its stake to 21.8 % . substantially all the government s remaining shares were sold in a third flotation in july 1993 raising 5 billion for the treasury and introducing 750 000 new shareholders to the company . 19 the 1984 act also abolished british telecommunications s exclusive privilege of running telecommunications systems and established a framework to safeguard the workings of competition . this meant that british telecommunications finally lost its monopoly in running telecommunications systems which it had technically retained under the 1981 act despite the secretary of state s licensing powers . it now required a licence in the same way as any other telecommunications operator . the principal licence granted to british telecommunications laid down strict and extensive conditions affecting the range of its activities including those of manufacture and supply of apparatus . 14 in 1985 cellnet was launched as a subsidiary of telecom securicor cellular radio limited a 60 40 venture between british telecommunications and securicor respectively . securicor originally invested 4 million in cellnet in 1983 . in 1999 bt purchased securicor s shares in cellnet for 3.15 billion . the company was later rebranded as bt cellnet and became a part of bt wireless a group of subsidiary companies owned by bt . 20 the next major development for british telecommunications and a move towards a more open market in telecommunications occurred in 1991 . on 5 march the government s white paper competition and choice telecommunications policy for the 1990s was issued . in effect it ended the duopoly which had been shared by british telecommunications and mercury communications in the uk since november 1983 and the build up to privatisation . the new policy enabled customers to acquire telecommunications services from competing providers using a variety of technologies . independent retail companies were permitted to bulk buy telecommunications capacity and sell it in packages to business and domestic users . the white paper was endorsed by british telecommunications the new policy enabling the company to compete freely and more effectively by offering flexible pricing packages to meet the needs of different types of customer . 21 1991 to 2001 edit the bt brand and piper logo were introduced in 1991 . the logo remained until 2003 . on 2 april 1991 the company started using a new trading name bt and branding . 14 in june 1994 bt and mci communication corporation the second largest carrier of long distance telecommunications services in the united states launched concert communications services a 1 billion joint venture company . this alliance gave bt and mci a global network for providing end to end connectivity for advanced business services . concert was the first company to provide a single source broad portfolio of