By: MarkJ - 10 September, 2010 (12:44 PM) - Score: 19317 - Fixed Line Broadband, Statistics

The Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator (OTA) and Ofcom have announced that, at the end of August 2010, the total number of unbundled ( LLU ) broadband ISP lines in the UK exceeded the significant milestone figure of 7 Million (7.03m)! Unbundled lines give rival ISPs, such as O2 , Sky Broadband and TalkTalk , the ability to manage and control their own services over BT's network and at a lower cost.

This means that unbundled broadband lines line account for one third of the market's 19 million broadband connections (70% are provided by companies other than BT). LLU lines are typically managed by BT's Openreach division, which is responsible for ensuring that all rival ISPs have equality of access to BT's local network.


The move was spurred by Ofcom, which imposed legally-binding rules upon BT Group in September 2005 that forced them to make unbundled lines available and thus improve market competition. TalkTalk , Orange and Be Broadband were three of the first ISPs to take advantage, offering faster speeds and more flexibility at lower prices.

Today there are more than 30 different Communication Providers (CPs) offering unbundled services to homes and small businesses. The extra flexibility and competition has assisted in driving broadband take-up and lowering prices. In September 2005, 37% of UK households and small businesses had broadband; today the figure is over 71%.

Ofcom’s research shows that consumers were paying on average £23.30 a month (+VAT) for broadband at the end of 2005, a price that has since fallen to just £13.31 for the same service.