Kitz Forum
Announcements => News Articles => Topic started by: Alex Atkin UK on December 01, 2020, 11:07:14 PM
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It seems Openreach are wanting to charge a fee to anyone using leased lines to aggregate FTTP customers.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/12/fury-as-alternative-uk-fibre-networks-hit-by-new-openreach-fee.html
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I will be surprised if ofcom ignores it, if it was just a generic price rise on leased lines then BT could argue its in reflection to their costs, but a surcharge just because its been used as backhaul for FTTP services is a blatant anti competitive move.
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Its absolutely baffling that they would even attempt this. You pay for a pipe of a given size, how you use it is none of the carriers business, data is data.
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Reading between the lines I think OR are attempting this because this area is one which is not regulated because
as they are not part of the relevant market where we have Significant Market Power (SMP)
although I think they are pushing their luck. Lets see if OFCOM have any teeth and are fit for purpose.
Stuart
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You pay for a pipe of a given size, how you use it is none of the carriers business, data is data.
And if the data being carried is encrypted then only the sender(s) and recipient(s) are privy to the contents.
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Reading between the lines I think OR are attempting this because this area is one which is not regulated because
although I think they are pushing their luck. Lets see if OFCOM have any teeth and are fit for purpose.
Stuart
I still don't get how they can argue this though. If they have significant market power for leased lines, how can they NOT have significant market power for leased lines carrying FTTP traffic? Surely what the lines are used for is completely irrelevant?