View source for Oftel

{{Short description|Former British regulatory body}}
[[Image:Oftel logo.svg|frameless|right]]
The '''Office of Telecommunications''' ('''Oftel''') (''the telecommunications regulator'') was a department in the [[United Kingdom]] government, under [[civil service]] control, charged with promoting competition and maintaining the interests of consumers in the UK [[telecommunications]] market. It was set up under the [[Telecommunications Act 1984]] after privatisation of the nationalised operator [[British Telecom|BT]].

Oftel was accused by critics such as [[Freeserve]] of having been "[[Regulatory_capture|captured]]" by BT, and of giving the dominant operator too much freedom to leverage its [[monopoly]] status in fixed line telephony into other markets such as [[Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line|ADSL]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Tim Richardson |title=Freeserve slams Oftel over BT Broadband |url=http://theregister.co.uk/content/22/25358.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020606051858/http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/25358.html |date=2002-05-20 |archive-date=2002-06-06 |url-status=dead |website=The Register |access-date=2009-06-23}}</ref>

On 29 December 2003, the duties of Oftel were inherited by [[Ofcom]], which was the result of the consolidation of five separate British telecommunications, radio spectrum and broadcasting regulators.

==Director-General of Oftel==
*Bryan Carsberg 1 August 1984 – 12 June 1992
*Bill Wigglesworth (acting) 13 June 1992 – 31 March 1998
*[[Donald Cruickshank]] 1 April 1993 – 31 March 1998
*[[David Edmonds (businessman)|David Edmonds]] 1 April 1998 – 29 December 2003

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20031028110331/http://www.oftel.gov.uk/ Archive of Oftel official website]
*[https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/235669/0718.pdf Oftel - Annual Report 1992]

==See also==
*[[Area code#United Kingdom|UK Telephone area (STD) codes]]
*[[UK topics]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Communications authorities]]
[[Category:History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Regulators of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Telecommunications organisations in the United Kingdom]]

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