British Telecom (BT) is doing enough in its effort to offer compe...
British Telecom (BT) is doing enough in its effort to offer competitors wholesale line rental (WLR) that the U.K. Office of Communications (Ofcom) last week proposed to lower the telco’s retail price control. In 2002, Ofcom made BT introduce…
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WLR - in which alternative providers rent access lines at wholesale cost, resell the lines to customers and send a single bill covering both line rental and phone calls -- with the understanding that when its WLR product became fit for the purpose and was seeing active use by competitors, the retail charge control would be relaxed. BT has met 37 of 38 requirements, Ofcom said, failing only to comply completely with a requirement to ensure a process letting service providers transfer customers when they move. BT also still has to fulfill performance indicators related to availability of its WLR ordering and fault management services. Citing the number of new entries in the residential market and BT’s commitment to improve its WLR offering by next April, Ofcom proposed relaxing charge controls in Dec. Comments are due Nov. 8 -- ala.pridmore@ofcom.org.uk.