A view from DTI [telecommunications liberalisation]

Liberalisation or the introduction of more competition into telecommunications was initiated by the British Telecommunications Act. The current legislation, the Telecommunications Act 1984, built on and extended its concepts as well as providing a framework for privatising BT. It also set up an independent regulatory agency, OFTEL, headed by the Director General of Telecommunications to oversee the privatised telecommunications market and the activities of BT as the dominant player in it. It is a characteristic of the framework that whilst some key decisions still lie in the hands of Ministers others are for the Director General of Telecommunications to take in the light of his statutory responsibilities