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By Lisa Burroughes, 24 October 2000 18:45

NEWS In an exclusive interview with silicon.com for the Broadband special report, Wood claimed companies such as NTL need clearer guidelines. "There is no question that traditional industries are converging," she said. "PCs are converging with television, the internet and television are both converging." She added: "I do think from a regulatory standpoint in a converged world it would be easier for all of us in the industry to have a consistent and single regulator so we know what the rules are and have a simple way to follow them." Setting up an Office of Communications (Ofcom) has long been talked about by the UK government and this autumn it is expected to release its white paper on what role that regulator should play. However, in an earlier interview with silicon.com, David Edmonds, director general for UK telecoms watchdog Oftel, was less convinced of the need for a single regulator. "If you look at some of the issues I am dealing with at the moment, like access to the internet or unbundling BT's local loop, they are incredibly complex questions which I think you need a highly-skilled sectoral regulator to deal with," he said. "Maybe in ten years time you could leave it to competition law, but at the moment I am absolutely clear you need tough sectoral rules applied by a sectoral regulator who understands the environment." Also in the interview, filmed at the TMA 2000 conference in Brighton this month, Wood said the company is actively seeking a mobile partner. "The only missing link in the company's portfolio is mobile and we're working very hard to get that into the bundle. Clearly, mobile is an increasing part of companies' and consumers' communications needs and, with internet access via mobile phones, will become very important," she said. However, Wood remained tight-lipped about which mobile operators it is talking to. For the full interview check out silicon's special report at http://www.silicon.com/broadband SILICON SAYS: We are seeing companies which previously would have no connection with telecoms services delivering internet access. Sky, which in the past was strictly an entertainment company, is now offering the internet via digital TV, which is not regulated by Oftel. Clearly, the ITC and Oftel need to work more closely together, even if they don't eventually merge. For expert analysis on issues raised in this article, see the following articles in the silicon.com Broadband special report on http://www.silicon.com/broadband :
All together now: "What ever happened to convergence?
A matter of taste: regulation in a converged world