The aspirations of popular ISP Be Broadband UK, and its parent O2 (Telefonica), to launch a new generation of "unlimited" UK superfast broadband packages "later this year" have been dealt a serious blow after the provider warned customers that its goal "might not be possible".

BE's Managing Director (MD), Chris Stening, hinted during the summer that the providers "plans for fibre have to be something unlimited and unshaped too, otherwise it simply defeats the object of having greater speed". Sadly achieving this has now proven to be far from easy.


It's unclear exactly what BE is proposing, although the description could hint at some form of Sub-Loop Unbundling (SLU) or Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) based superfast FTTC or FTTP (40-100Mbps) product. Both would be quite costly and take a long time to deploy.

SLU based services allow ISPs to build and control their own street cabinet, often right next door to one of BT's. By contrast PIA would allow a rival to install their own fibre optic cable through BT's existing cable ducts and telegraph poles. Neither method precisely matches BE's description.

We had assumed that BE would seek to use a more restrictive FTTC alternative called Virtual Unbundled Local Access (VULA), although this doesn't give ISPs the same level of price flexibility or service control as BE's LLU service currently enjoys.