[9] A number of privately owned electrical telegraph companies operated in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1846 onwards.

[32] In 1983, the growing "office automation" market was addressed through Merlin-branded desktop computers made by ICL, with built-in modems to communicate over the phone network.

[42] The reaction to the failure of the deal in the City of London was critical of then Chairman Iain Vallance and CEO Peter Bonfield, and the lack of confidence from the failed merger led to their removal.

Although Concert continued signing customers, its rate of revenue growth slowed, so that in 1999 David Dorman was made CEO with a brief to revive it.

The Esat Telecom Group was split in two with the landline and internet operations were combining with Ocean to become part of BT Ignite.

[49] It had also failed in its series of proposed global mergers, and the funds flowing from its then virtual monopoly of the UK market place had been largely removed.

[53] In June 2001, BT's directory business was sold as Yell Group to a combination of private equity firms Apax Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for £2.1 billion.

Ribbit provides Adobe Flash/Flex APIs, allowing web developers to incorporate telephony features into their software as a service (SaaS) applications.

[79] Then in July 2009, BT offered workers a long holiday for an up front sum of 25% of their annual wage or a one-off payment of £1000 if they agree to go part-time.

[85] In February 2013, BT acquired ESPN Inc.'s UK and Ireland TV channels, continuing its expansion into sports broadcasting.

[89] BT subsequently entered into exclusive talks to buy EE for £12.5 billion on 15 December 2014[90][91] and confirmed on 5 February 2015, subject to regulatory approval.

[100] Also in of that year, KPMG fired six US employees over a scandal that calls into question efforts to ensure that public company accounts are being properly scrutinised.

The work, dubbed 'Project Novator', is understood to include a potential merger of BT's struggling global services corporate networking and IT unit with its business and public sector division".

It was to include BT's Ventures business which "acts as an incubator for potential new growth areas of the company" and to report as a single unit from 1 October 2018.

[118] BT Group is a holding company; the majority of its businesses and assets are held by its wholly owned subsidiary British Telecommunications plc.

BT's logo will appear on the Ulster Rugby shirt sleeve for all friendlies, Heineken Cup and RaboDirect Pro12 matches as well as a significant brand presence at their home ground; Ravenhill Stadium.

[145][146][147] On 13 May 2014, BT joined Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media as founding partners of Internet Matters, a not-for-profit organisation that provides online safety advice for parents and their children.

[148] On 28 May 2014, it was announced that BT agreed a £20 million four-year sponsorship deal with Scottish Rugby Union which includes BT securing the naming rights for Murrayfield Stadium which becomes BT Murrayfield Stadium, become sponsor of the Scotland sevens team, become principal and exclusive sponsor of Scotland's domestic league and cup competitions from next season, taking over the role from The Royal Bank of Scotland and become sponsor of Scottish Rugby's four new academies that aims to drive forward standards for young players who have aspirations to play professionally.

[151] On 27 January 2016, it was announced that BT, alongside YouTube will be the new joint headline sponsors in a three-year deal with Edinburgh International Television Festival.

BT's logo will continue to be displayed on the front of Scotland rugby shirts across the world, in the Six Nations Championship, as well as the summer and autumn test matches.

[170][171][172][173] At a more fundamental level, many have argued that the ISPs and Phorm have no right to sell a commodity (a user's data, and the copyrighted content of web sites) to which they have no claim of ownership.

[176] On 16 December 2012 the then prime minister David Cameron was supplied with an in-depth report indicating that the intelligence services had very grave doubts regarding Huawei, and that UK governmental, military, and civilian privacy may have been under serious threat.

"[185] Human rights groups including Reprieve and Amnesty International have criticised the use of armed drones outside declared war zones.

[186][187] In 2013, BT was the subject of a complaint by Reprieve to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, following their refusal to explain whether or not their infrastructure was used to facilitate drone strikes.

[188] The subsequent refusal of this complaint was appealed in May 2014, on the basis that the UK National Contact Point's decision did not follow the OECD Guidelines.

[189] In February 2017, a review of the telecoms market by Ofcom found that BT's landline only contracts provided poor value to customers.

[190] In January 2021, Law firm Mishcon de Reya filed a claim with the Competition Appeal Tribunal against BT worth £600 million, accusing them of historic overcharging on landlines.

In its report, Ofcom found that BT's network violated the rules by failing to supply Eir with the same details on its on-demand fiber-to-the-premises offering as its own rival team.

In March 2022, BT explored the possibility of severing ties with Rostelecom, Russia's state-backed telecom operator, but concluded that such a move would disrupt communication capabilities between the two nations.

Ofcom fined BT £17.5 million, citing the telecom giant's lack of preparedness and poorly documented backup procedures.