Posted: 15th Jan, 2004 By: MarkJ
Rival Cable & Wireless (C&W) has called for BT to be given a regulatory overhaul. The operator believes that the UK economy could gain £20bn if Ofcom improves the way it regulates:
The study is highly critical of the current regulatory regime, arguing that it has allowed BT to retain its grip on the wholesale telecoms market, slowing innovation and costing the economy billions in potential growth.
"The new regulator has a key role to play in closing the productivity gap in the UK," said Cable and Wireless chief executive Francesco Caio in a statement. "Without decisive change, there will continue to be a drag from stifled telecoms innovation in this country."
More competition in Britain's ADSL market, for example, could have pumped £100bn into the UK economy by encouraging earlier broadband take up, the report argues. The spread of broadband -- now generally seen to be moving at a healthy clip -- was delayed by at least three years due to the lack of "equivalent" access to BT's network assets by competitors, the report claims.To be fair, everything always looks better in hindsight. More @
ZDNet.