British Telecom (BT) said Wed. a parliamentary report finding the...
British Telecom (BT) said Wed. a parliamentary report finding the U.K. wholesale broadband market noncompetitive (CD Feb 11 p9) had made a “well-balanced and constructive contribution to the broadband debate.” The report by the Commons Trade & Industry Select…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Committee declined to recommend a breakup of the incumbent into separate retail and wholesale arms but strongly criticized it for hampering competition in the wholesale market. BT said it was pleased the committee had decided not to recommend a split and had urged that the regulatory regime under development encourage further investment in broadband. BT said it had spent more than Pounds 700 million on broadband development to date -- far more than any other player. Its “ambitious plans,” however, are “dependent on the company being allowed to generate a sufficient return on its investment, and so BT concurs with the committee in its desire for regulatory certainty going forward.” A BT spokesman acknowledged many parts of the report were less than complimentary to the telco but said other portions recognized that the U.K. retail broadband market wouldn’t be growing as fast as it was without BT’s investment. However, the spokesman said, the report failed to note that cable broadband accounted for 50% of the wholesale market. Competitors appear to be focusing solely on DSL and not the whole picture, he said. Consumers don’t care whether they get broadband via DSL or cable as long as they get the price and speed they want, the spokesman said.