UK: BT must open up network to competitors says Ofcom

British telecoms giant BT must open up its huge network of fiber and copper cables to competitors according to Ofcom, the regulatory body for the country’s telecommunications industry.

The advice is the result of a review into BT’s management of its “Openreach” network, the 76 million miles of cables that connect British homes to telephone exchanges, regularly called “the last mile.” Openreach will also be subject to more stringent guidelines that aim to see it repairing faults and installing new lines faster, and the network will have to compensate customers when their connections go down.

As a part of the body’s new strategy, BT will have to open up its Openreach tunnels and telegraph poles, allowing competitors to lay their own wires and build their own network to “increase competitive pressure on the network.” Ofcom introduced a new structure in 2005 that meant competitors such as Sky, EE, and TalkTalk became able pay BT to use its existing cables, allowing them to offer their own services using BT’s network, but the body said today that BT is still acting in an anti-competitive manner.

“Openreach is part of BT Group, but has obligations to treat all its customers equally,” the findings read. “However, the evidence from Ofcom’s review shows Openreach still has an incentive to make decisions in the interests of BT, rather than BT’s competitors, which can lead to competition problems.”

Full content: Sky News

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