BT plc is the oldest telecommunications company in the world, tracing its origins back to the Electric Telegraph Company, incorporated in England in 1846. BT provides communications services in 170 countries and maintains R&D facilities which have generated more than 10,000 patents. Renowned for innovation, BT spends roughly two-thirds of a billion dollars annually in R&D. It has won numerous national and international research awards, including Queens Awards for Technological Achievement and British Computer Society Awards.