The industry mindset changed as telecommunications were taken out of the hands of The Post Office and vested in British Telecom.
In 1980 Post Office Telecommunications was a government-owned 'public corporation'. By the 1990s BT was a mature global commercial company - one of the biggest of its kind in the world.
The July 1982 White Paper proposing the creation of British Telecom as a private company raised a further issue - who would regulate it? As a nationalised industry, the Post Office had been answerable to government in a way that a private company would not.
The White Paper therefore also proposed a regulatory or 'watchdog' body, the Office of Telecommunications. OFTEL officially came into being on August 1, 1984, the same month that British Telecom became a public limited company. Professor Bryan Carsberg was appointed to be its first Director General.
OFTEL had three main functions:
promoting the interests of consumers;
maintaining and promoting effective competition;
making sure that telecommunications services are provided in the UK to meet all reasonable demands, including emergency services, public phones, directory information and rural services.
This film made in 1985, explains how telephones are moving into a more glamorous mode. Well-known presenters and actors such as Chris Searle, Fulton MacKay, Joanna Lumley, Tony Robinson and Myriam Margoles all appear to demonstrate the wonders of the new styles of phone.
Fulton MacKay and Tony Robinson have even been persuaded to don 'Superman'-like outfits.
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