REGULATION NEEDED TO SPARK BROADBAND TAKE-UP, U.K. ISP GROUP SAYS
Competition regulation is needed to help spur broadband takeup, a key U.K. ISP group said this week. Regulation “will almost certainly be required in a market where a single operator continues to hold a significant market power,” said Matthew Hare, chmn. of the broadband subgroup of the Internet Service Providers Assn. (ISPA) U.K. However, he said, regulation “ideally” would fade out over time, leaving the market to encourage greater broadband use. The comments came in a submission to the Commons Trade & Industry Select Committee, which is investigating the deployment of broadband in the U.K.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The inquiry is expected to cover several issues, including: (1) Broadband rollout via both the fixed-line telecom network and satellite. (2) The effect of British Telecom’s (BT’s) launch of broadband service and marketing on competition. (3) Access to the market for retail broadband providers. (4) The impact on consumers of the other issues.
A BT spokesman denied the need for broadband regulation. The U.K. has a “competitive landscape” in which cable companies and more than 100 ISPs furnish broadband services and products, he said. Moreover, he said, BT’s 25% retail market share pales when compared with other European telecom ex-incumbents. Both the U.K. govt. and a European Commission (EC) panel say the country’s broadband market is hot, the BT spokesman said. He quoted Dept. of Trade & Industry Minister Stephen Timms as saying the “U.K. market is more competitive than its European G7 neighbors and more competitive now than the U.S.A.” An EC Communications Committee working document on broadband access in the European Union (EU) calls the U.K. market the “most dynamic in the EU,” BT said.
An ISPA spokesman disagreed, saying, “the incumbent is still dominant, essentially.” ISPs must purchase wholesale products from BT, the spokesman said, and the telco still has a large presence in the market and on the network. In its comments, ISPA also asked Parliament to set trigger levels for telephone exchanges not currently broadband-enabled so the extent of the problem of reaching universal coverage could be determined. Every telephone exchange must be broadband-enabled, the ISPA spokesman said. BT has been setting trigger levels in certain areas in an effort to have consumers register interest in broadband, he said, but ISPs want the govt. to set levels -- no matter how high -- for all exchanges. The group also urged the govt. to take a mixed- technology approach to broadband rollout while ensuring fair access to wholesale networks for ISPs.
The comment period closed Oct. 24. More than 40 comments have been filed and others still are coming in, a committee spokesman told us Wed. The comments won’t be made public until the committee issues a report, he said. The panel has scheduled a Nov. 11 public hearing in London on the issues, the spokesman said.