GPO / BT King Charles II officially established the British General Post Office (GPO) in 1660 and it eventually grew to combine the functions of both the state postal system and telecommunications carrier. In 1969 the GPO was abolished and the assets transferred to the newly-created Post Office Corporation, changing it from a Department of State to a Statutory Corporation which was in turn split into separate Post Office and British Telecommunications Corporations in 1981. BT Group plc (also known as British Telecommunications plc) which trades as BT (and previously as British Telecom) is the privatised UK state telecommunications operator. It is the dominant fixed line telecommunications provider in the United Kingdom. BT operates in more than 170 countries and approaching a third of its revenue now comes from its Global Services division.