Everyone else comes in much further back. When the French and German tried to buy Sprint, there was a lot more troubles. In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale, for Marketplace. Until 1984, the British telephone company was run by the government as part of the post office. The creation of British Telecom is seen as one of the crowning achievements of Margaret Thatcher's conservative government.
Old ways die hard, however.
Until the early 1990's, British phone lines were metered like gas or electricity. Since bills gave customers no sense of when calls were made to where or for how long, budgeting and monitoring phone use was a nightmare. Newfangled, itemized bills are now available. The process is now beginning in Germany. In what will be Europe's biggest initial public offering, Deutsche Telekom is being sold to private investors later this month.