10Mbps UK Broadband Universal Service Obligation to Go Live UPDATE3

The UK Government’s new legally-binding Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband – supplied by ISPs BT and KCOM – will tomorrow go live. The aim is to ensure that anybody living in a digitally disadvantaged area can request a “minimum” download speed of at least 10Mbps (1Mbps upload), but there are caveats.

Universal Service Obligations (USO) are designed to set a minimum expected performance level and thus the old obligation (here), which has been in place since 2003, only enables you to request a basic telephone service, which must also be capable of delivering “data rates that are sufficient to permit functional internet access.” In practice this could technically be satisfied by a dialup (narrowband) connection but all that is changing.

At present fixed line “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) ISP networks are estimated to cover more than 96% of premises across the United Kingdom and by the end of 2020 this could rise to around 97-98%. The focus of this new USO is thus primarily on helping to cater for those in the final 1-2% (around 155,000 premises currently fall into this category, if you include 4G services, or 610,000 premises if you only look at fixed broadband).

Crucially the new USO is NOT an automatic upgrade, which means it will give people the “legal right” to “request” a 10Mbps+ connection from a supporting ISP but such “premises will not be eligible for a USO connection if they are included in a publicly funded broadband rollout plan within the next 12 months.”

On top of that anybody who requests such a service might be left to wait awhile before it’s actually delivered. Ofcom states the “maximum time that consumers should have to wait to receive a connection is one year from the request date” (the regulator expects ISPs to be quicker than this, provided it doesn’t result in disproportionate costs being incurred – details below).

10Mbps USO Specification

* A minimum download “sync” speed of at least 10Mbps (Megabits per second).

* A minimum upload “sync” speed of at least 1Mbps.

* A medium response time with end-to-end latency of no more than 200ms for speech applications (this rules out Satellite).

* A maximum sharing between customers (contention ratio) of 50:1.

* A minimum data allowance of 100GB.

* A technology neutral design (can be delivered via a mix of fibre based and / or wireless solutions).

* BT/KCOM will have 30 days to make an assessment about whether or not a consumer is eligible for the USO after request.

* BT must deliver every USO connection as quickly as possible and deliver at least 80% of connections within 12 months, 95% within 18 months, and 99% within 24 months of the confirmed USO order (intended to help manage the expected rush of early requests). KCOM must deliver a USO connection as quickly as possible and no later than 12 months after someone places their order, unless there are exceptional circumstances that make it more difficult.

* The USO must adopt uniform pricing (i.e. cost the same no matter where you live), with a maximum cap of £45 inc. VAT a month. People who only have access to a service priced over £45 per month will also have the right to request a USO connection.

* The UK Government stipulated in its legislation (Digital Economy Act 2017) that the definition of the USO speed should be reviewed when at least 75% of premises in the UK subscribe to a broadband service that provides a download speed of at least 30Mbps (we’re around 50-60% today).

The USO is to be funded by the industry (e.g. ISPs) – via a Universal Service Fund (USF), have a cost threshold of £3,400 (i.e. you may have to help pay for it if the cost per property goes above this or forget the USO try something else) and support a form of demand aggregation (i.e. multiple properties can be used to bring the cost down by considering predicted take-up).

On that last point, Ofcom states that where network infrastructure can be shared, build costs should also be shared between premises to determine whether the cost of provision to an individual premises would fall below £3,400. Using the regulator’s own example, if a cabinet served 100 premises and the cost of deploying FTTC was £100K, then Ofcom’s forecast take-up of 70% would mean that the cost of upgrading that cabinet could be just £1,429 for each premise (note: other technologies, such as FTTP and 4G, can also be used).

The regulator’s analysis of this £3,400 threshold suggested that it could enable coverage for up to 99.8% per cent of UK premises. Previous estimates from Ofcom and the BSG have noted that the 10Mbps USO could cost anything from around £200m and all the way up to £1bn (here), depending upon its design and technology choice. We suspect it may be even less than £200m given the somewhat watered down approach now being taken.

Ofcom appears to have largely accepted an argument from BT (EE), which said that the majority of the USO could be delivered via a 4G based wireless broadband (mobile broadband) connection. Likewise KCOM should have no trouble catering for the USO within their East Yorkshire and Hull network because this is now almost entirely reached by FTTP.

The above leaves around 155,000 premises and BT has suggested that 110,000 of those may be too expensive to reach via the USO (likely to need more public subsidy/vouchers or something like Openreach’s co-funded Community Fibre Partnerships), which suggests that fixed line FTTC/P “fibre broadband” technologies may only end up catering for a very small portion overall.

Closing Thoughts on the USO

At this point some may ask why only BT and KCOM – the two designated Universal Service Providers (USP) – are delivering the USO. The reality here is that other ISPs have largely rejected any notion of taking on such a significant legal and financial burden (here). Others will of course also complain that 10Mbps is a fairly weak minimum, although the costs would rise significantly for a faster obligation (consumers end up paying).

A faster USO might also risk creating market distortions or enabling BT to rebuild a monopoly position, which could disrupt investment and alternative networks. Lest we forget that the faster the USO, the harder it is to deliver and thus the longer the likely wait before roll-out. Those arguing for a “full fibre” USO would similarly do well to consider how many years and how many billions it might take before related requests could even be delivered (the industry would never agree to fund that by itself).

A careful balance is needed to weigh against these risks and hence the 10Mbps was chosen, although many would agree that 10Mbps is quite weak and we look forward to the day when Ofcom reviews this speed. Similarly the decision to allow highly variable 4G services to cater for most of the USO has perhaps watered it down a little too far.

The big question now is whether, come tomorrow, we start seeing a rush of early requests that swamp existing resources. On the other hand there’s an expected issue of awareness and whether or not consumers will understand the “what, where and how” of making a USO request in the first place.

So far those who have contacted BT’s sales staff about the USO have not been given any guidance on how to request it (most staff didn’t even know it existed), so we hope a clear process will be introduced tomorrow. Ofcom informed us that BT will also be writing to potentially eligible households to make them aware of the USO and offer advice on next steps, which is expected to be complemented by advice on their website (the regulator will also upload advice).

UPDATE 20th March 2020 (9am)

BT’s website now appears to have a page live for the USO – https://www.bt.com/broadband/USO. Just a warning though, don’t expect BT’s customer support lines to be much help, many of their agents still seem to lack awareness of it and in some cases are giving people the run-around to different departments that are equally hopeless. We expected better, they’ve had plenty of time to prepare.

Likewise some people who should be eligible, due to receiving sub-10Mbps speeds, are being told they’re not (if you already get close to 10Mbps then this may be an issue of estimation vs different real-world experience). Clearly there’s some work left to do.

UPDATE 20th March 2020 (10:12am)

A Spokesperson for Ofcom just told ISPreview.co.uk: “The scheme is now open and people can apply. However, due to the ongoing situation with the outbreak of coronavirus, I’m sure you can understand that providers’ resources are under significant demand at the moment. We are therefore advising people to visit the dedicated USO information on BT/KCOM’s websites in the first instance, where possible, rather than calling the providers’ call centres.”

UPDATE 21st March 2020

We spent what little spare time we had on Friday trying to check through a number of complaints about the USO checker on BT’s website and confirm some of the issues, which alongside Thinkbroadband we’ve now been able to do. Most of the issues so far have tended to centre around three key problems (see below).

The first thing we’ll say is that BT’s plans for the USO appear to have been dented, particularly on the support (staffing) front, by the COVID-19 situation. Nevertheless BT are aware of some of these issues, but right now the advice is to be patient as we are not in normal times (the fix may take longer).

On the other hand some criticism is justified since the USO has been coming for a long time (plenty of window for development), while COVID-19 is only very recent, so we don’t fully accept their excuse on this front. Nevertheless we have had some feedback from BT, although we’re not certain if it’s directly quotable and thus I’ve paraphrased it in to a shorter response below (while also giving our own opinion).

Key Issues with BT’s USO (Website) Checker

1. Some people are being told to get a 4G (mobile broadband) solution when in reality the mobile signal or local mobile capacity – from all operators (especially EE) – in their area makes actually attaining a 4G signal in the first place impossible or extremely difficult. Even if they can, receiving 10Mbps+ may be a forlorn hope.

BT’s Position: The operator said they use a 4G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) solution for the USO, which they said “may not result in the same service as that received via a 4G mobile handset / mobile phone signal” (i.e. a proper FWA approach is where they install an external antenna on your home, which may indeed result in a better outcome – EE have been doing this for awhile).

BT says that the best approach may be to follow through with the process, get the mobile router and see how it goes. The operator adds that, in the event that it does not deliver, then customers can return the product if they aren’t happy with it or, better yet, ask for an external antennae, which may further improve the service. We don’t know what happens if neither helps.

In our view the big problem here is that none of this is made very clear via BT’s checker. Consumers need to know what they’d actually be getting and what the processes are. This should be an easy fix with a bit of extra text and some pictures of the hardware. Equally the very inclusion of highly variable 4G technology was always bound to cause issue like this.

2. Some people, who in the real-world can only receive sync speeds a few Megabits below 10Mbps (via best technology available to them), are being told that they can’t benefit from the USO, which magically estimates their line as able to deliver better than 10Mbps. Sadly no option to request a manual review is given to these individuals.

BT’s Position: The operator acknowledges that some issues like this were always going to occur due to the highly variable nature of older copper line broadband solutions, which can also be impacted by poor home wiring and various other factors that aren’t always easy to pin down. Edge cases – those lines closer to the USO level – are most likely to run into problems here.

For Edge cases BT suggests consumers go through a technical check process with their existing ISP first to ensure that the line isn’t faulty (we suspect quite a few ISPs will shun this at the first hurdle, unless a real fault is clearly identified; this could also risk additional costs from engineer visits if no issue can be found). “If problems still persist and the synch speed is still a marginal issue in terms of 10Mbs, then we are happy to discuss this further with the customer,” said BT.

In our view there is again a lack of clear information on the checker to help people through cases like this. Likewise some of the complaints we’ve seen on this one have been more than mere edge cases (a few people have reported speeds well below 10Mbps in the real-world and still get denied the option of a USO). Upload speed also seems to have been entirely overlooked in this, even though 1Mbps is mandated.

A better process is needed to support such cases, although it will be difficult, but they should have access to enough data to determine whether a line is at least within a fair range of eligibility, even if it may not at first appear be quite hitting the mark.

3. The checker failing to recognise that alternative network (altnet) operators exist and thus unnecessarily recommending USO solutions (e.g. 4G mobile), when a better network is available.

BT’s Position: The operator claimed they don’t generally have access to altnet coverage data, particularly at individual premise level, and thus this is not referenced. Only if a customer can’t get 10Mbs with BT will they be referred to the broadband USO Helpdesk. Once there, a few specialist agents for the USO have access to a specific Ofcom database which has the information about altnets.

In our view (ISPr), and that of TBB, this is not made clear enough in the messaging on BT’s USO site (there’s no mention of altnets at all) and indeed this is the website that most people will end up using. We aren’t saying that BT needs to promote other ISPs but they do at least need to be confirming in clear text (not small or hidden print) that they aren’t able to check the availability of alternative networks. Ideally Ofcom and BT should be coming up with a generally better solution where altnets are concerned (we feared this might be an issue back when the USO was first being designed).

At present it does feel a bit like the USO is being treated as an afterthought, but we are pleased to see that BT have recognised some of the early problems. The operator asks for patience as they attempt to resolve the issues, so if anybody is affected by these problems then it might be worth coming back in a few weeks or months to try again.