Plans to roll out superfast broadband to all areas of the UK are on track. This doesn’t mean that the Internet Service Providers (ISP) are going to share and be friends. Far from it.
BT has been tasked with rolling the new fiber optic technology to much of the UK, which is being done to schedule and on time. The controversy is over the other ISPs and the amount they should have to pay for access to BT ducts and poles.
The telecoms giant explained that, “BT is the only company who has installed broadband equipment in exchanges serving the last 10% of the UK and so we would question whether these companies are genuinely interested in serving rural Britain given their track record.
“It is highly ironic that we are being criticised by some companies who provide little or no wholesale access to their assets,” while also explaining that their prices compare favourably with European averages.
BT has set the price to share their ducts starting at £0.95 per metre, per annum, whereas BT’s Openreach overhead poles are charged at £21 per pole attachment.
The firms in opposition to the prices include Virgin Media and TalkTalk who say the Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) trial, implemented by the government, “will be a commercial and policy failure if Openreach does not revise its prices.”
The burgeoning iGaming industry in the UK will be looking on in the hope that an agreement can soon be thrashed out as it will give them better access to parts of the country that don’t at the moment receive broadband.
Although it’s the second time in the past few months that disagreements between network providers and ISPs has stunted the growth of mobile Internet or Internet access. As we’ve seen in the past, it will likely take a mediator to resolve the dispute and see two-thirds of homes receiving the super-fast broadband by 2015.
