landmarks

This page highlights the privatisation and deregulation of telecommunication network operators.

It covers -

• 1981
• 1985
• 1989
• 1993
• 1997
• 2002
• 2005

The chronology is indicative only. Context is provided by the broader timeline elsewhere on this site.

     1981

UK govt sells part of stake in international operator Cable & Wireless

     1984

deregulation in UK market, with sale of 50% of BT for US$4.5bn

     1985

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) privatised

UK govt sells remainder of Cable & Wireless stake

     1987

Chile sells 53% of Chile Telecommunications Co to Bond

     1989

full deregulation of NZ telecommunications market

privatisation of Cook Islands telecommunications

privatisation in Solomon Island through establishment of Solomon Telekom Company

     1990

Telecom NZ fully privatised in 1990 through NZ$4.25bn sale to subsidiaries of Bell Atlantic and Ameritech

Telmex privatised through US$1.7bn sale to Grupo Carso, Southwestern Bell and France Télécom

Argentina's Empresa Nacional de Telefonos SA (ENTEL) privatised for around US$5bn

GTE-led consortium buys Venezuelan telco CANTV for US$1.85bn

Jabatan Telekom Malaysia (JTM) floated as STM for M$2.35bn

     1991

UK government sells further tranche of BT for £5.3bn

     1993

UK govt sells remaining tranche of BT for £5.5bn

Hungarian government sells 30% of MATAV

Czech government unloads 26% of SPT through voucher scheme

     1994

Cuba sells Emtelcuba for US$700m

OTE in Greece privatised

     1995

Czech government sells further 27% of SPT

German monopoly DBP Telekom privatised as Deutsche Telekom

further 37% of MATAV sold

     1996

Belgian government sells 49% of Belgacom to ADSB consortium (SBC, TDC and Singtel) for US$2.5bn

     1997

privatisation of Armenian operator

Danish government sells further 30% of Tele Danmark

sale of 25% of Russian operator

Australian telecommunications sector opened for full competition

France Télécom part privatised

Telstra partly privatised

     1998

Telecom Fij privatised

deregulation in Brasil

sale of shares in Telebras brings in US$11.6bn

World Trade Organization Basic Telecommunications Agreement (BTA) comes into force

ROMTELECOM in Romania sold to OTE

     1999

Qatar Telecom privatised

Eircom floated

Aust govt sells further 16.6% of Telstra

     2000

Telkom Kenya privatised

Czech government sells remaining 51% stake in SPT

     2002

India sells most of international carrier VSNL (46% acquired by Tata for US$530m), then deregulates

     2003

Saudi government sells 30% stake in Saudi Telecom for US$9.6bn

     2004

French government sells 10% of France Télécom for €5.1bn

ADSB floats Belgacom stake for €3.6bn

     2005

Tele Iceland auctioned to investment company Skipti ehf for ISK66.7bn

Netherlands government raises €1.4 billion through sale of further 8% stake in KPN.



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