BT today released a press release responding to Ofcom’s Digital Communication Review, published earlier in the year. The press release coincides with the closing date for responses to Ofcom’s BT-Openreach discussion and consultation.
The BT-Openreach split debate has raged throughout the year, with a range of organisations and individuals throwing their opinions in the ring. Most recently the Country Land and Business Association, an association set up to represent and support the views of rural businesses and land owners, came out in support of BT and Openreach staying together. Others, such as Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Labour MP Chris Bryant, have supported the split, claiming the partnership gives BT an unfair advantage and hinders sector growth. Understandably, BT themselves opposed the split stating: ‘We appeal to Ofcom not to be swayed by certain communications providers in the UK who are evidently motivated by self-interested corporate rivalry. There is no case for structural separation, no detriment to competition, no evidence that structural separation would lead to improved market outcomes, and no theoretical analysis to support such an agenda. Continuing to hold open the possibility of structural separation will put at risk the investments necessary to drive good customer outcomes in coming years.’ They stressed the benefits of BT for Openreach, and Openreach for Britain by highlighting BT’s high investment in research and technology.
As part of the press release, BT also put forward to Ofcom suggestions for regulatory changes to help consumers and businesses. These included taking steps to simplify the current regulations and setting policies that encourage large scale investment.
BT also aimed to reinforce recent commitments to improving service and customer satisfaction. These included:
- Aiming for a new universal minimum broadband speed of 5-10 Mbps for every home and business.
- Extend fibre broadband coverage beyond the government’s 95% target.
- Ensuring 10m premises receive ultrafast broadband with speeds of 300-500Mbps by the end of 2020 and the majority of the UK by 2025. A 1Gbps service will also be provided to some.
- A “Never say no” approach, building on BT’s record of co-funding community broadband schemes.
- Driving beyond Ofcom’s minimum service levels to improve on-time delivery for consumer customers to 95% by 2017
- New “View My Engineer” service from Openreach, improving customer experience by giving text progress updates and engineer’s mobile phone number.
Following the closure of the BT-Openreach split discussion document, Ofcom are to release a statement by the end of the year.