1985
Cellnet, the British Telecom and Securicor joint venture cellular radio service, was launched on 7 January. It replaced the existing radiophone service operated by British Telecom. Its competitor Racal Vodafone was also launched the same year.
The joint venture company was relaunched as BT Cellnet in 1999. In July 1999 BT announced it would be acquiring Securicor's minority stake in the joint venture.
The first new-style British Telecom shop opened in Southend-on-Sea High Street on 3 January, selling a wide range of telephones, business equipment and telephone accessories. The new shop was an extension of the existing chain of 53 phoneshops, mostly sited in department stores or in local telephone area offices.
The new speaking clock was inaugurated at 11 o'clock on 2 April when the voice of Brian Cobby replaced that of Pat Simmons, the voice of the clock for the previous 22 years. The new clock was digital and, with no moving parts, more reliable and accurate than the old equipment.
From 1 November it was possible to rent an exchange line alone from BT without having to pay rental for a telephone instrument.
Modernisation of the trunk network began with the opening of 'System X' exchanges in Birmingham, Coventry, Leeds and the City of London. The initial phase of the modernisation was completed in November 1988 with the opening of the 53rd 'System X' trunk exchange in Norwich. The last analogue trunk exchange at Thurso, Scotland was closed in July 1990 and the BT long-distance network thereby became totally digital, the first major system in the world to do so.
The first Stored Programme Control telex inland exchange was opened.
The first UK operational undersea optical fibre cable was laid, linking the Isle of Wight to the mainland across the Solent.
British Telecom trailed its first Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).
Trials of the Linkline 0800 and 0345 services began on 12 November. An International 0800 service was opened from the United States.
Linkline was later marketed as Freefone and Lo-Call.
The Martlesham switched star cable TV and interactive services network was introduced in Westminster.
British Telecom placed an order for around £100 million in March for an AXE 10 (System Y) digital switching system to provide a competitive alternative to System X. The contract was awarded through Thorn Ericsson.
The first AXE 10 exchange was opened the following year at Sevenoaks. As well as being an alternative to System X, introduction of AXE 10 exchanges into the network allowed the modernisation programme of the network to be speeded up. AXE 10 exchanges provided the same range of extra facilities known as Star Services (later known as Select Services) as Systems X, including code calling, repeat last call, three way calling
