The UK’s Public Accounts Committee released a report criticizing the government for failing to introduce competition into the broadband industry through its rural broadband program, according to reports.
The PAC slammed the Broadband Delivery UK plans, implemented for $2 billion, for allowing top broadband company BT to become a monopoly. The delivery program was intended to help more rural areas gain access to broadband services where investment is scarce.
But according to the PAC, the government has allowed more than half of the project’s contracts to be awarded to BT. In its report, the watchdog fond that nearly all of the initial nine broadband suppliers involved in the government scheme have dropped out. BP’s only rival Fujitsu is largely inactive, the group said.
The PAC first raised concerns last September. Now, the PAC’s chairman, Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, is raising those concerns again, announcing that “despite out warnings last September, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has allowed poor cost transparency and the lack of detailed broadband rollout plans to create conditions whereby alternative suppliers may be crowded out.”
The PAC is now calling on the Department to launch an inquiry into the program to solve the issue.
Full Content: The Telegraph
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
Uruguayan Antitrust Scrutiny Puts Major Meatpacking Deal Between Marfrig and Minerva on Hold
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Alaska Airlines Seeks Dismissal of Consumer Lawsuit Over $1.9 Billion Hawaiian Airlines Buy
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Idaho Attorney General Orders Split of Kootenai Health and Syringa Hospital
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Court Rejects T-Mobile’s Appeal Bid in Antitrust Case Over Sprint Merger
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Google Requests Judge, Not Jury, to Decide on Antitrust Case
May 19, 2024 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Mapping Antitrust onto Digital Ecosystems
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystems and Competition Law: A Law and Political Economy Approach
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Ecosystem Theories of Harm: What is Beyond the Buzzword?
May 9, 2024 by
CPI
Open Ecosystems: Benefits, Challenges, and Implications for Antitrust
May 9, 2024 by
CPI