James Delahunty
7 Oct 2010 21:04
UK communications regulator Ofcom is now requiring BT to provide competitors with access to its fibre network. Ofcom believes the move will promote the take-up of high-speed broadband services throughout the UK. BT also has to give rivals access to its underground ducts and telegraph poles to build their own fibre networks. The regulator will allow BT to set its own prices for access to its networks.
The British government wants all homes in the UK to have basic 2Mbps Internet access available at least by 2015, while all European Union member states are looking to make basic broadband service available to all citizens by 2013, and then 30Mbps services by 2020.
"In areas where BT invests in fibre, the remedies will enable other providers to offer competing services, based on BT's facilities," it said. "Elsewhere, access to BT's ducts and poles should encourage investment by other providers, enabling the provision of superfast services and increasing competition."
BT is the largest provider of broadband Internet access in the UK. TalkTalk, which comes in second place and will be one of the first ISPs to sell high speed broadband connections that rely on BT lines, welcomed the new regulations but said there is still "room to improve" the deal.
BT has committed £2.5 billion to next-generation broadband, with a goal of reaching 17 million homes by 2015. It announced last week it would roll out fibre to up to 90 percent of homes in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The project, which is partly funded by the European Union, will be completed in 2014.