National Transcommunications Limited (Headquarters Crawley Court, Winchester), commonly known as NTL, was brought into being when the IBA's engineering department was privatised and bought by Mercury Asset Management in 1992. The Home Office Directorate of Telecommunications was formed into a company in 1993 and privatised being bought by NTL in 1994 to expand and assist in the operation of a number of contracts including the coastguard and RNLI.