Entanet joins calls for Openreach-BT split
ISP says a division would force Openreach to offer improved services to BT competitors
ISP Entanet has added to calls for broadband network Openreach to be separated from BT as Ofcom undergoes its 10-year review of the communications space.
Neil Watson, Entanet’s head of service, has called for action to be taken by the comms watchdog to pressure Openreach into distributing equally high levels of service to communication providers other than BT.
He claimed Openreach is currently failing in terms of the overall service it delivers.
This echoes shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport Chris Bryant's comments in the Telegraph, in which he said: "The situation is now so bad Ofcom's review should work on the presumption that Openreach should be split from the rest of BT, unless their review produces conclusive evidence to the contrary."
Watson continued that if Ofcom were to split the two – encouraging Openreach to up its game – resellers would be able to offer a better product to their customers, and in turn increase margins and revenue.
“If Openreach were separated out, they would need to deliver a much better service, and would need to demonstrate what they were doing and almost give people a reason to buy from them,” he said.
“The service [broadband] that resellers would deliver through to the end users would increase and it would mean resellers would have less pain. From a margin, revenue, cost-of-sale and service point of view it would be better for resellers.”
Entanet’s head of marketing Darren Farnden told CRN BT’s Openreach has little incentive to "get things right" for other companies, as BT is its biggest customer.
"So long as BT is not giving them a kicking – for want of a better phrase – they are perfectly happy to carry on with the service they are currently delivering, which is poor," he said.
Watson suggested that an alternative to dividing the companies could be for financial penalties to be given to Openreach if its performance is not up to scratch.
“As an industry, we need Openreach to be held to account for the poor service experienced by the multitude of content providers forced to use its services,” he said.“At the moment, although it is doing quite well in giving BT lots of money, they need to pass some of that through to the reseller business and to the end users for better performance, better fix times and all the other stuff that goes with it.”
Farnden says he thinks these issues have been allowed to continue because Ofcom has not spoken up.
“It has to come down to Ofcom. Whether Ofcom has enough teeth, or whether they work too closely with Openreach and BT – there are lots of different reasons out there, but they all come back in some way to Ofcom,” he commented.
BT said in a statement: “There is no case for structural separation, with the UK leading the EU’s five biggest economies for superfast broadband. The current Openreach model has served the UK very well resulting in high levels of investment, intense retail competition, very high levels of coverage and take up and low prices.
“BT has a strong track record of being willing and enthusiastic wholesaler, and we intend this to remain the case”