Posted: 08th Feb, 2005 By: MarkJ
Energis is well known for its hard-line rhetoric against BT, consequently renewed calls for Ofcom to break-up the operator will come as no surprise:
Speaking on Monday, Energis effectively rejected BT's offer of widespread internal changes to deliver 'transparent and equal access' to its local network. The rival telco claimed there is a massive conflict of interest because BT sells its own retail services and also provides wholesale products for other companies -- such as ISPs -- to offer to customers.
The only solution, Energis claims, is structural separation."Twenty years of hard evidence suggest that we stop deluding ourselves that increasingly elaborate ways of papering over the cracks are in any way useful. BT's proposals prove that structural separation is achievable - we should just get on with it," said John Pluthero, chief executive of Energis.
Energis was giving its opinion in response to Ofcom's Strategic Review of Telecommunications. Back in November, Ofcom warned BT that the telco could be broken up unless it gives competitors the same access to its wholesale network, at the same price, as BT's own retail arm.Few believe that Ofcom actually has the balls to go through with a BT break-up, especially when some of their own past comments have shown that it would not be favourable. More @
ZDNet.