BT Group plc (formerly British Telecommunications plc) which trades as BT ( bee tee) (previously known as British Telecom and still occasionally referred to by that name) is the privatised UK state telecommunications operator. It is the dominant fixed line telecommunications and broadband Internet provider in the United Kingdom. BT operates in more than 170 countries and almost a third of its revenue now comes from its Global Services division.

BT Group is the largest communications service provider in the United Kingdom. It is also one of the largest communication companies in the world.

You have to ask yourself how BT can be so big and successful when they offer customers such terrible service. Oh yes, they've got a monopoly!

Businesses of BT

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

BT runs the telephone exchanges, trunk network and local loop connections for the vast majority of British fixed-line telephones. Currently BT is responsible for approximately 28 million telephone lines in the UK. Apart from Kingston Communications, which serves Kingston-upon-Hull, BT is the only UK telecoms operator to have a Universal Service Obligation (USO) which means it must provide a fixed telephone line to any address in the UK. It is also obliged to provide public call boxes.

BT's businesses are operated under special government regulation by the British telecoms regulator Ofcom (formerly Oftel). BT has been found to have Significant Market Power in some markets following Market Reviews by Ofcom. In these markets, BT is required to comply with additional obligations such as meeting reasonable requests to supply services and not to discriminate.

As well as continuing to provide service in those traditional areas in which BT has an obligation to provide services or is closely regulated, BT has expanded into more profitable products and services where there is less regulation. These are principally, broadband internet service and bespoke solutions in telecommunications and information technology.

BT Group is organised into the following business divisions:

• BT Retail: Retail telecoms services to consumers
• BT Wholesale: Wholesale telecoms core trunk network
• Openreach: fenced-off wholesale division, tasked with ensuring that all rival operators have equality of access to BT's own local network
• BT Global Services: Business services and solutions (formerly BT Ignite and BT Syntegra)
• BT Exact / One IT: consultancy and internal IT. There is some overlap with BT Global Services. R&D functions are no longer handled by BT Exact.
• Group operations: handles security, research and development, and other functions for BT Group Plc such as legal services