NEWS Regulator Ofcom is considering splitting BT into at least two separate units in order to create a better environment for competition and has asked its CTO to look into it, according to reports.
Dividing the telco into two distinct units would also make the Ofcom's life easier because any planned split would mean less regulatory obligations for the watchdog.
One such divorce could see BT Wholesale separated from BT Retail, according to a report in the Financial Times, with only the wholesale wing being overseen by Ofcom. The report also states that the former technology head of BT Retail, and now CTO at Ofcom, Peter Ingram, is weighing up the implications of the division.
With more than 70 per cent of all fixed lines currently being run by BT, Ofcom hopes that the move will be a boon to competition, said the FT. Rivals have also complained that BT Retail gets unfair favourable treatment from BT Wholesale.
BT also attracted the attention of the regulator last month, following changes to its residential phone tariffs that rival telcos called anticompetitive, leading Ofcom to launch an investigation.
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1. Simon
I think I used to suggest 20 years ago that the only way we'd get REAL competition would be for BT to be split into several sections - Local loop, exchange services, trunks, and calls. Local loop would own the cable and exchange space, exchange seervices would rent space in the exchange building to house it's exchange equipment. Others would be free to rent a circuit, and either rent an exchange connection or put in their own exchange equipment. They would also be free to buy trunk capacity and/or calls from the other two units (or other competitors) - a bit like already happens in a (BT controlled) way already.
OK, a major upheaval, but has the line been drawn in the sand 2 decades ago, we might now be getting to the point where we had competition. It would probably have taken this long to handle the re-organisation anyway.
2. anonymous
Upgrade or Downgrade - competition is fine when its not just for the sake of it. I'm happy with the service from BT, obviously many others are too as for the others to pick up just 30% of the business seems impossible.
If BT hadn't been held back by the need for others to catch up this country would be much further ahead in its communications network technology. Now do we need to disjoint an efficient service for the sake of competition again. Don't we learn look at the railways.
Sometimes a unified approach is best