NEWS Telecoms and cable television provider NTL will spend £65m on placing its equipment in BT telephone exchanges - a process known as local loop unbundling (LLU).
As the rollout of broadband internet access became an issue at the height of the telecoms bubble, LLU was tried with poor results by a number of alternative telecoms operators. In the end, most opted for simply reselling BT's wholesale ADSL lines.
However, in recent months LLU has been seen as an option. Just days ago UK telco Cable & Wireless - now the owner of Bulldog - said it will spend £100m on LLU, targeting around 400 exchanges, mostly in urban areas.
NTL, unlike Bulldog and others, does own its own network, built out and extended through a series of acquisitions over the past 15 years or so. However, in an interview with the FT today, the cable operator's CEO, Simon Duffy, said it is now more cost-effective to extend the reach of its broadband offering through LLU.
NTL is targeting 300 BT exchanges, trying to satisfy demand from customers who reside outside its network's area of coverage. NTL currently passes just under three million homes.
The renewed optimism surrounding LLU follows price cuts by BT in the spring this year that make the process 35 to 70 per cent less expensive to other operators. The move was welcomed by regulator Ofcom, which had been trying to get LLU prices in line with some other European countries'.
Comments
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1. Troy
If NTL are now going into exchanges will they be subject to pressure to reach 100% of the population? or will they be allowed to pick the lucrative exchanges and ignore the less profitable?
2. Ken - BAS LLP
Is the LLU push from BT or Ofcom?
Surely the renewed enthusiasm for LLU is all down to the LLU prices proposed by Ofcom in August rather than the more moderate cuts made by BT in May
3. Simon Jefferson
NTL would be better spending the money on upgrading their network so that all consumers have b/band and digital cable access.
I have been waiting for NTL BB and DCA for 3 years now and still nothing.
4. Alfred Reading
Having been a customer of ntl since they took over the cable service I got from C&W, my main requirement is that they spend just a little money to give replies to customer's letters promptly and that relate to the questions asked. Until they get these basics right they will just annoy more customers by extending their reach.
5. anonymous
Oh Dear!
What a farce. My advice to those "customers" who want broadband from NTL should look elsewhere! You will never get it ever from NTL. I dont see it happening even if pigs start flying. Oh I forgot Barclay Knapp is......
They have failed to prvide a BB service in former C&W area's in West London for over 5 years and I dont see them providing it somehow ever....
6. Andrew Lewis
I think ntl would be better off spending their money giving their current customers a reasonable customer service rather than attempting to cause more misery to new victims.
I don't believe that ntl offer the worst customer service in the UK any longer. I think this prize has to be awarded to Hutchinson 3. Let's hope they don't expand into other markets to wreak more misery.