BT's recalcitrance forces Clara.net to drop ADSL rollout

NEWS Clara.net revealed to silicon.com this week, that it intends to find properties near local exchanges in major UK cities, which will enable it to roll out 2Mbps synchronous DSL connections, without having to negotiate co-location deals with BT. Steve Rawlinson, chief technical officer at Clara.net, said: "We would essentially be hiring a leased line from BT that would connect to our exchange and it would go out from there." He added: "We haven't decided on pricing but it would be much cheaper than leased line." Clara.net said it is in negotiations with Energis and other operators to act as the backbone network. Clara.net is not the first telco to circumvent the co-location fracas by looking at properties outside the BT-owned local exchange. Redstone Communications announced similar plans early last year. However, the move will shift the company's focus away from its early adopter customers, as Rawlinson admits the pricing for SDSL will be too high for the consumer market. Charles Nasser, the company's founder and CEO, said that while it hasn't ruled out ADSL altogether, the company will need to become a far more commercially attractive option. It is currently reselling BT's ADSL service but he admitted the company was making little money out of it because BT's pricing is too high. Both Nasser and Rawlinson warned that the consumer market is in danger of being neglected by broadband service providers if Oftel doesn't step in and force BT to radically change its approach to unbundling, putting the UK at a massive disadvantage to its European counterparts. "At one point France and Germany were behind the UK, now the UK is trailing way behind them," Nasser said. Clara.net also confirmed this week it has added Spain to its portfolio with the acquisition of Catalunya Internet Services and the first services are expected to begin in May this year.