With the combined staff and assets of two separate organisations, the GPO looked at standardisation of equipment, including telephone kiosks.
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But gradually, through a number of Acts of Parliament, and a series of acquisitions, services were consolidated under the National Telephone Company (NTC) and the GPO.ġ912 marked a watershed for the UK telephone network when the assets of the NTC were acquired by the GPO, effectively nationalising the telephone network. This meant that the first public telephone network could be created, at a time when there were only 13,000 telephones in use, nationwide.Īs telephone technology developed, an increasing number of services were set up in larger towns and cities across Britain. In 1884 the GPO relaxed the rules which had previously restricted the coverage of exchanges, allowing for the development of a national system. This subscription provided them with a telephone and connection to the network. These companies operated a series of local exchanges to which households and businesses could subscribe. There was not a single, unified system, instead the service was owned and operated by a number of private companies. The telephone was a marvellous technical innovation, but was very expensive, so their use in the closing decades of the nineteenth century was limited to wealthy homeowners and businesses. The General Post Office (GPO), a Government department until 1969, held the monopoly on telegraphic communication in Britain. Before the development of the telephone in 1876 communication over any distance was often by telegraphy and wireless telegraphy.
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