Ofcom tells BT to open its fibre network

23rd Mar 2010 07:41

BT will have to share its telegraph poles and underground cable ducts with its rivals under new proposals put forward by regulator Ofcom to boost the introduction of a super-fast broadband network.Competitors will be able to use to BT's network of poles and ducts to lay their own fibre-optic cable, with BT providing information about how much space is available and the quality of ducts and poles. Ofcom suggests half of the duct network may have room for additional cables.The regulator also wants BT to open its fibre lines so rivals firms can provide their own services to consumers. BT would be able to make a fair rate of return, the proposal said.BT seemed happy enough with the new proposals and analysts said it could enable it to recover market share lost to rivals in recent years. The telecoms giant is rolling out a fibre network with speeds up to 40 megabits (mbs) per second, increasing up to 100mbs, as customers demand faster Internet speeds for films, music and online games. This new fibre-optic service will cover 40% of the country by 2012.The new proposal "combined with us having pricing freedom for that product, provides some of the regulatory clarity and certainty that we have been seeking," BT said in a statement.Ofcom also concluded that broadband competition is now effective in large parts of the country and for over 70% of the population there will be no regulation. However, where consumers only have access to copper-based broadband services provided by BT there will be some locally specific price controls to protect consumers against the potential risk of excessive prices."In those areas where BT invests in fibre, the proposed remedies will enable other providers to offer competing retail services, based on BT's facilities. Elsewhere, access to BT's ducts and poles will encourage investment by other providers, enabling the provision of super-fast services in competition with current generation broadband," the regulator said.