Oftel calls for BT Internet charge cut
The telecoms regulator has called on BT to slash the price it charges for wholesale Internet access.
The Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) has called on BT to cut 17% off the price of its wholesale unmetered Internet access. Oftel believes that BT has been charging operators for certain call routing and call management measures that are no longer necessary.
The company had to introduce a series of measures to support Oftel’s requirement on BT to introduce the wholesale unmetered Internet access service. At the time, BT introduced several mechanisms to route Internet calls through to the appropriate service provider and call management measures to protect its network from being overloaded by the take-up of the service.
Oftel now believes that BT’s network can process Internet call traffic without these
additional measures and has called for the cut in charges.
David Edmonds, Director General of Telecommunications, commented, “The action taken today ensures that BT continue to recoup the cost of providing wholesale unmetered Internet access, and that UK consumers continue to benefit from one of the most competitive dial-up Internet markets in the world.”
Oftel hopes that the cuts can be passed onto consumers by their service providers. The are to be backdated to June 2002 when the regulator believed that BT’s additional measures were no longer necessary.
The regulator had carried out the review of BT’s charges after a complaint from Cable & Wireless was received, which was later supported by Energis.
