Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable and Wireless to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom (BT) which was privatised in 1984. Mercury proved only moderately successful at challenging BT's dominance. In 1997 the Mercury brand ceased to be and it was amalgamated into Cable and Wireless communications. The consumer arm of the latter would eventually find itself bought out by the telecommunications firm NTL.

Its name lives on through its original sponsorship of the Mercury Music Prize.

External Links

• Cable and Wireless History
• Cable and Wireless UK operations

Defunct companies of the United Kingdom