This briefing can be downloaded in PDF format [43Kb]
BT believes that in the knowledge economy of Europe, instant, constant and reliable access to information is vital to a region’s economic competitiveness.
BT is, therefore, playing a key role in the provision of broadband availability, particularly in the UK. It has pursued a policy of providing broad, fast, and widely available broadband whilst consistently cutting prices.
BT is also driving the emergence of competitive broadband solutions across the EU to support European businesses and thus competitiveness.
There are many types of broadband technology but the current standard form is Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). According to the OECD, BT has the widest availability of DSL broadband in the G7 group of nations. More than 99% of the UK’s population will be able to access broadband in this way by the summer of this year.
BT’s, and as a result, the UK’s progress even over the last twelve months has been remarkable.
|
Data |
February 2004 |
Current |
|
% of the UK with DSL broadband (availability) |
85%+ |
95% |
|
Number of DSL broadband lines |
2.3 million |
4.1 Million |
|
Number of broadband lines in total (DSL + cable) |
3.8 million |
6 million + |
|
Number of BT exchanges enabled for DSL broadband |
2345 |
4185 |
|
Number of unbundled local lines (LLU) |
9511 |
31,467 |
|
Price for LLU - shared access |
Connection €168.50 |
Connection €50.20 |
The UK leads the way in competitiveness of broadband offerings. Because of the fierce competition from around 200 Internet Service Providers vying for the attention of customers and because of the existence of an independent and strong Cable TV industry in the UK, BT has the lowest retail market share for broadband lines of any of the former incumbents in Europe, at around 25% (source: European Competitive Telecommunications Association).
Faster broadband became a reality for virtually all ADSL customers with BT Retail’s announcement on 10 February that it was going to provide 1Mbit/s speeds to all its BT Broadband Basic customers and 2Mbit/s to all its other existing 512Kbit/s customers. Customers need no extra kit and it will not cost them a penny more.
BT Wholesale has also announced that it is to trial increasing speeds to 8Mbit/s on all lines that support 2Mbit/s. In addition, BT is to trial ADSL2+ technology to support even higher speed services of up to 18Mbit/s. Technical trials are scheduled to begin in April 2005 with the aim of launching higher speed services nationally from the autumn.
In addition, it is worth noting that BT has also announced details of the next 500 exchanges to be upgraded to provide symmetric broadband service. By April 2006 a total of 1300 exchanges, covering more than two thirds of UK businesses, will be able to provide this service.
BT is fully committed to making LLU a success. During 2004, BT made significant cuts in charges for the "line-sharing" variant of LLU, making our offering one of the cheapest in Europe.
In addition to these cuts, BT is now proposing a reduction in charges for the full metallic path variant of LLU (often termed "full unbundled LLU").
BT is determined to deliver the required operational changes to create an environment where the LLU industry can achieve high volumes of LLU to agreed delivery targets.
By the end of March 2005 LLU operators will be providing service from more than 600 exchanges. Many of these will have multiple operators providing service. In many cases, the new LLU deployments will be the simpler, cheaper new range of co-mingling products launched in October 2004 and will provide the platform for operators to grow towards their forecasts of 1 million LLU lines by December 2005. BT’s commitment to LLU will continue.
BT believes that a widespread, reliable and high capacity network is vital if a knowledge based economy is to succeed.
BT is taking the lead in providing broad, fast, and widely available broadband whilst consistently lowering prices.
Policy makers must also play their part by ensuring that legislation and regulation support or at least do not harm these aims.
17 March 2005
