ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Distribution panel supply to France

It's BABT - British Approvals Board for Telecommunications.

BABT was set up during the deregulation of the early 1980s, and are probably most widely known by many people for the "Big green dot" stickers on the base of phones approved for connection in the U.K.


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 10-15-2003).]

Approval of phone stuff was pretty restrictive here. You were only allowed to hook up things that had a yellow Post office sticker at the bottom. Some versions of that sticker even had our national eagle on them, others only the Post logo.
Even ETACS cell phones had to have such stickers, I've got a Mitsubishi MT999 here, the sticker is in the battery compartment and basically says: "Approved for use in the ÖPTV D network under the PTV-ONR.:170 600 235". Post owned phones just had a round yellow sticker with their logo, covering one case screw, so you couldn't open the phone. Real old phones (1950ies) even had a lead seal!
On analog lines you weren'T supposed to hook up anything, they were hardwired. Modular jacks cost extra. Party line phones could only handle an answering machine, you got a new relay box with a modular jack installed. (Our party line phones didn't just have a simple connector box but the phone cord went into a 20x20x5 cm relay box).
Don't know when that restriction disappeared, but definitely along with privatization in 1998.

Moved to telephone talk thread... https://www.electrical-contractor.net/ubb/Forum9/HTML/000437.html


[This message has been edited by djk (edited 10-15-2003).]