General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

The split may have come about anyway, even if Mrs T had not so acted.

Even back in the 1960's, within the industry such a split was frequently under discussion.

In any case, it was something of an anomaly. When telegraphy emerged, the Post Office claimed the wire service was an electronic form of mail. Telephony, of course, evolved from telegraphy as the needed technology developed.

Although telephony was a very profitable industry (Just look up history of Bell Telephone Corp in USA), technology developed in such a way that large demands for capital occured from time to time. In UK, the willingness of Government to provide such capital was seen to limit development.