Starting in 1846 with the incorporation of the Electric Telegraph Company, and categorised by UNESCO as being of international importance, the online archive will be freely available to the public for non-commercial use.
Called New Connections, the project will be managed by Coventry University, in partnership with BT and The National Archives, with an award of around £745,000 from JISC, the UK's national education and research IT support organisation. The remainder of the funding — around £250,000 — will come from BT and Coventry University themselves, and the project is due to be complete by mid-2013.