Posted: 21st Sep, 2007 By: MarkJ
Speaking to The Maidenhead advertiser, BT has responded to a consumer question about why '
Waltham St Lawrence' remains uncovered by broadband.
The question has become particularly poignant as an increasing number of ISP's abandon alternative dialup services:
BT RESPONDS: BT is committed to providing broadband to the whole of the UK and for use by everyone. We are aware of the situation in this area and are actively looking at trials including the deployment of wireless technology to fill gaps in our broadband coverage.
While we are unable to offer any immediate solution or estimated dates, long-term we remain hopeful that solutions will be found so that we can provide broadband to all those who are currently unable to benefit due to technical limitations of the existing ADSL technology.
BT has a Universal Service Obligation to provide a telephone service, the provision of broadband is based on a commercial model.
This effectively means that we will not re-route a major cable or build a new exchange so that we can supply broadband to an individual or group of customers.
That said, however, in this particular case, there is no inherent deficiency within our network the line loss is simply too high to support a stable and resilient service.
It's unlikely to be a response that residents of the Waltham St Lawrence area will be pleased with. Sadly BT has no USO obligation to connect such areas but
Ofcom should perhaps start pursuing these isolated pockets of non-coverage with more vigour.
The world has gone high-speed and some people are still being left behind, which in the modern climate should be deemed unacceptable.