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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK communication regulator said Friday it plans to provide unrestricted access for competitors to cable ducts and poles for internet and telephone lines held by BT Group PLC's subsidiary Openreach.
Ofcom - the UK regulator for broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries - has opened a consultation on Friday for its proposals. This will close on January 18 with final conclusions made in spring 2019.
In July, Ofcom announced plans to open access to the main UK broadband network maintained by Openreach.
Under these plans, companies providing broadband services to residential customers were to be granted unrestricted access to the ducts and poles maintained by Openreach in order to lay their own fibre cables. This measure, Ofcom explained, can cut the costs for a firm to build a full-fibre network by around half.
The new consultation, however, will be regarding the regulator's plans to "give companies greater flexibility to lay fibre networks that serve residential or business customers."
Under these proposals, Ofcom suggests giving unrestricted access to the ducts and poles to any firm providing any telecommunications service. This could now include those offering high-speed lines for large businesses, mobile phone data operators and high capacity lines for broadband services.
Ofcom intends to implement this unrestricted access from spring 2019.
The regulator has also opened a consultation on proposals from its Business Connectivity Market Review which is looking at "leased" lines.
Leased lines - also known as private circuits or data lines - allow companies and organisations to connect distant offices.
Current regulations for this market expire in March 2019.
In areas where competition with Openreach is "low", Ofcom intends to maintain charge controls on BT - a former state monopoly - and impose strict quality service standards. This will keep prices flat for leased lines.
Where competition is stronger - or where the prospect of competition is good - Ofcom intends to "propose lighter regulation than existing rules, to allow this to flourish."
For areas where - even with unrestricted access to ducts and poles - there is unlikely to be "effective" competition to Openreach for the "foreseeable future", Ofcom will look to force BT to "give competitors physical access to its fibre-optic cables, allowing them to take direct control of the connection."
"This service is often referred to as 'dark fibre', because the cables would not be 'lit' using BT's electronic equipment," Ofcom added. "Instead, they would be 'lit' by the competitor installing its own equipment at either end of the optical fibre. We propose that BT should provide this dark fibre access at a price that reflects its costs."
Ofcom will also consult "shortly" on how its should define competitive, potentially competitive and non-competitive areas in preparation for its brad-based residential and business market review in 2021.
Shares in BT were 1.7% lower at 256.73 pence on Friday
