Industry News TalkTalk presses ahead with dark fibre plans after winning appeal on BT costs
TalkTalk are preparing to launch business broadband products from October after successfully arguing Ofcom’s method for determining dark fibre access caps were miscalculated.
Dark fibre is to be offered to TalkTalk customers using Openreach infrastructure after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) upheld its appeal over the extent of BT access charges. Previously, Ofcom had ordered BT to provide third party communications providers with access to Openreach’s dark fibre as part of the Business Connectivity Market Review (BCMR). The review had also proposed fibre and legacy business broadband connection price controls plus new obligations for Openreach that they were to speed up the installation and repair leased lines. As it stands, Openreach makes leased lines used by public sector organisations and businesses, available to other companies on a wholesale basis. This means that the line and equipment used to power the connection are bundled together. In the £2 billion market for leased lines Ofcom claims the measures should result in better services, lower prices and more effective competition. However TalkTalk felt that the methodology used to calculate the wholesale price caps was flawed as it did not take into account government rate rules. In its ruling the CMA agreed and Ofcom must therefore recalculate. BT has its own appeal which is still yet to be ruled on and still feels Ofcom’s decision is disproportionate. In a separate appeal CityFibre’s complaint on Ofcom’s choice of cost standard was thrown out by the CMA.
No superfast broadband requirement in Digital Economy Bill The Digital Economy Bill has received a last-gasp Royal Assent in the run up to the UK general election in June, but an amendment sought by the House of Lords insisting on a legal minimum broadband speed of 30Mb/s has been dropped. It was felt that not enough people have taken up a superfast broadband in order to warrant it.
The 30Mb/s amendment was initially proposed by Labour’s Lord Mendelsohn in February, increasing on the initial 10Mb/s universal service obligation (USO). While providing a universal 30Mb/s service could cost as much as £800m more, Mendelsohn argued that the economic case for it was “extraordinarily well justified”. However, Digital and Culture Secretary, Matt Hancock, said he had serious concerns as to whether the amendment was deliverable, and felt it counterproductive to set a 30Mb/s USO because of the risk of legal challenges by network builders, and the delays that would cause. The government is therefore to propose a further amendment in lieu requiring a broadband USO to be set at 10Mb/s, and for this to be reviewed by a future government once take-up of superfast broadband services hits 75%, whenever that might be.
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HotLINX Issue 49
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Industry News
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In Brief Interxion to Expand London Campus
Interxion have announced that it is to expand its London Data Centre Campus. Scheduled to open in 2018, LON3 will add 1,800sqm to its uniquely located central London data centre campus, situated between the Square Mile and Tech City. The campus has become a strategic location for businesses looking to interconnect mission critical services in central London. Home to key players in the financial services, digital media, connectivity and cloud services sectors, Interxion plays an important role in enabling London’s digital economy.
New reports predict Telco Cloud to Reach Critical Mass After 2020, fuelled by 5G Large scale telco cloud deployments will hit global critical mass after 2020 in parallel with the deployment of 5G, according to a new report from ABI Research.The report, titled ‘Telco Cloud Framework and Deployment Roadmaps’, argues the latest network generation will likely require a new core network to allow for advanced concepts, including network slicing and niche services. Early 5G deployments, during which time there will not be an immediate need for a new telco core, will likely focus on enhanced mobile broadband.
Another report from GSMA predicts that the commercial 5G networks will be widely deployed at the beginning of the next decade and, by 2025, will provide coverage to a third of the world’s population.