CONSUMER campaigners have said that changes to the BT division that runs the country’s broadband infrastructure “can’t come soon enough” for millions of people who have suffered “woeful” levels of service.
Industry regulator Ofcom stopped short of demanding a full sell-off of Openreach, which develops and maintains the UK’s main telecoms network used by telephone and broadband providers such as Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and BT Consumer.
READ MORE: Herald View: BT Openreach must not be allowed to hold up digital progress
But it outlined major reform of the organisation that would result in it becoming a “distinct company” within the BT group.
Alex Neill, director of policy and campaigns at Which?, said: “Millions of people have suffered woeful levels of service from Openreach so these changes can’t come soon enough.
“In order for these reforms to be judged as a success, customers will expect them to deliver big improvements in service. Telecoms are an essential part of our daily lives and so it is vital that everyone can access good quality broadband, switching is made easier and compensation is made available when things do go wrong.”
The current structure of BT was introduced by Ofcom in 2005 and rival companies such as Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk have long called for a split between Openreach and its parent company.
They pay to use the network and have previously complained over poor service and urged the group to replace its ageing network of copper wire.
The watchdog said that, although the existing structure has delivered benefits such as stronger competition, it means BT retains influence over significant Openreach decisions and has an incentive to make these decisions in the interests of its own retail businesses, rather than competitors.
BT chief executive Gavin Patterson said the company was introducing “significant changes” to meet the concerns of Ofcom and the industry, adding: “These changes will make Openreach more independent and transparent than it is today, something both Ofcom and industry have requested.
READ MORE: Herald View: BT Openreach must not be allowed to hold up digital progress
“Openreach is committed to delivering better service, broader coverage and faster speeds and these changes will enable it to do just that.”
Ofcom, which is seeking views on the plans by October 4, said the new model “would provide Openreach with the greatest degree of independence from BT Group that is possible without incurring the costs and disruption – to industry and consumers – associated with separating the companies entirely”.
TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding said the move was “a step in the right direction” but warned that it could favour BT by allowing it to continue “gaming the system” of complex regulations – a claim denied by Mr Patterson.Ms Harding told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It is a step in the right direction; the danger is though that sometimes when you take one step in the right direction, you actually create a regime that’s so complicated that it’s actually five steps in the wrong direction.
READ MORE: Herald View: BT Openreach must not be allowed to hold up digital progress
“And, until everyone’s had a chance to scrutinise this in a lot of detail, it’s not obvious.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article