ABSTRACT
British Telecommunications (hereafter BT) provides an interesting case study because it was the first European incumbent to be wholly privatized, com mencing almost two decades ago. Like all European operators of any size, BT was historically a domestic service provider with virtually no links into other, mostly closed, European markets. Fortunately, one result of privatiz ation was that it enabled BT to slim itself down and to improve productivity - although it had been reluctant to do so until pressure exerted by competition and the regulator forced its hand - so by the mid-1990s it was financially very sound with a low debt to equity ratio.
