BT Openreach Tackle UK Delays via Faster Service Provision for Business Users

BTOpenreach has announced a new short term process change for ISP customers, which is designed to help cope with the on-going engineer delays (caused by bad weather). The new initiative aims to give certain business customers a faster provision of service (phone and broadband) but only if it’s absolutely necessary.

At present many home and business customers, specifically those seeking to get a new phone line and or broadband service installed, are being faced with lengthy delays of up to 2-3 months after a mix of high winds and flooding over the summer and early autumn periods forced BT’s engineering teams to re-focus on repair work.

Until the situation improves Openreach has decided to introduce an interim process that will run from 15th October 2012 until the end of December 2012. The new process will offer improved provision appointment availability for orders of phone line rental (WLR3 PSTN, MPF) and or superfast broadband (FTTC) services but only in certain circumstances.

ISPs may only use this short term process if an end user has:

* Placed an appointed provision order and the first available accepted appointment is greater than 20 working days from the order placement date AND

* Your end user’s ability to maintain their business continuity would be compromised due to the date of the first available appointment (for example an existing customer moving to new business premises with no service on the date they move in) AND

* The order has not already been escalated or expedited via any of the offered Openreach products or processes AND

* The order amendment is not required as a result of CP error, in which case the existing CP resolution process must be used

Under the plan ISPs would be able to contact Openreach’s Directors Service Office (DSO) via email to request the High Impact Provision of Service solution at no additional charge. The DSO will then review the request and attempt to find an earlier appointment, although this is done on a first come, first served basis and there is no guarantee that Openreach will be able to offer a better date.

During the first two weeks this process will be under test conditions and thus ISPs are initially advised to “minimise submissions“. Openreach also warns that ISPs which attempt to abuse the process, such as by using it to provide a faster date for frustrated home consumers (unless they too risk a loss of “business continuity“, which is a little vague), could be summarily flogged at dawn suspended from the process.

The fact that Openreach even has to offer this kind of service at all is perhaps a sign of just how serious some of the delays have become.