ABSTRACT
The privatisation of British Telecommunications (BT) in November 1984 was arguably the most important of all of the privatisations of the 1980s. It was the first involving an enterprise which had a monopoly position in the country and the privatisation required the design of a regulatory system to prevent the exploitation of market power after transfer to the private sector. It was also by far the largest privatisation to date, indeed at the time the largest stock market flotation ever, with a flotation value of about £3.9 billion. There was considerable uncertainty over whether the capital market would be able to absorb such a large share issue. The privatisation of BT built up experience and confidence in privatising large state enterprises, which the Government would tap into later, especially when it undertook the sales of British Gas, the water and sewerage industry, electricity and the railways.
