News

"Our communications don't use copper: it's Red Tape"

by Manek Dubash | posted on 14 December 2007

Deregulation of the telecoms industry - industry-speak for breaking up BT into several chunks which don't speak to each other - has come under fire from users this week.

It all follows a report from Ofcom which, according to one story: "all but congratulated BT yesterday for progress the telco has made since 2005", with respect to unbundling the local loop.

The telecoms regulator said that BT Openreach, the division that rents BT lines to service providers - had done well but could do better. Ofcom singled out the fall in broadband prices, which are allegedly two-thirds cheaper than they were in 2005.

Other achievement larded with praise included more choice of broadband and voice call provider for consumers, and more people switching broadband providers.

However, in comments to the story, users were scathing. One pointed out that he was still having to pay BT for an old copper line - most of which have been there for decades - which won't be replaced unless it impedes voice quality. No mention of broadband there.

Another said that secondary providers were still reliant on BT for their infrastructure and that they added very little value, while another pointed out that, if the secondary SP's service fails, the voice line will at least remain in operation - as long as it remains unbundled.

And the final indictment was from one SP employee who said that BT's inter-division communication caused "headache after headache" as the divisions were forbidden to speak to each other by Ofcom regulations.

It would seem that Ofcom's praise for BT is misplaced. Until BT's competitors are allowed full and unfettered access to the local loop and are allowed to offer a full range of services, the halfway house that currently exists will continue to generate anger.

BT's divisions should be allowed to communicate with respect to customers whose services straddle its divisions, at least until that particular line is unbundled. Or is that just a tad too complex for a £20 billion company?