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[phi2008]

The status quo between BT and its subsidiary Openreach, which provides the infrastructure connecting people to the internet, is unlikely to continue warns the head of the telecoms regulator, Ofcom.

Critics of BT say it has not invested enough in Openreach and want it sold.

Ofcom's chief executive, Sharon White, is currently reviewing the company's provision of superfast broadband.

She said one option was "the structural separation" of Openreach from BT.

Ms White explained this was among four possible options being explored. They are:

* Whether to maintain the status quo which she said was "unlikely."

* More deregulation.

* The "structural separation" of Openreach and BT - in particular whether Openreach could be spun out more fully from BT.

* Adjusting the existing system to make it "more fit for purpose". That could include improving services, repairs, and laying new superfast lines.

Rest of article...

Interesting times ... 

[Black Sheep]

Yeah, interesting find. I wonder why the workforce hasn't been informed of this yet ?? They're usually super-quick to put out an announcement to keep us informed.
 Maybe they're working on it as we speak ? 

[broadstairs]

I must admit that I have always believed that these kind of arrangements, rather like what in some circles are called 'chinese walls', can leak like the proverbial sieve. If both halves of a company which has conflicting interests are effectively responsible to the same set of shareholders it is not good, granted that some of the same people may hold shares but that is somewhat different. I personally do not believe that the UK regulation is tough enough to allow companies to exist like this. I think the only logical solution is to completely split OpenReach from the rest of BT. At least that way there could be no doubt that the market place is more open, whether or not it will work better is something we would have to see over time although I personally feel it is more likely to be better.

Stuart

[WWWombat]

I don't think we were ever going to see the "status quo" as the answer. Ofcom have to be seen to be doing *something* to improve things, after all.

This is a "big picture" structural review - a once-in-a-decade thing.

Last time we had one of those - creating Openreach - the access network had been a really stable thing, and no approval had been given to NGA networks - I even wonder how much though was given to it?

This time, the one thing we can be sure about: The next decade is going to see even more upheaval to the access networks than we've even seen in the last 6 years.

If Ofcom really want to rip things up and start again, they'd better have a really solid reason why, and an even more solid understanding of the outcome. There's not a lot of room for the laws of unintended consequences to come into play. Not this decade.

[Weaver]

So what do I get under the 10 Mbps USO ("legally obliged") in 2020.

I have this sickening feeling that the answer is either

a) nothing, it's just a joke, or

b) satellite (no way, a bad joke)

What do Kitizens think?

[burakkucat]

What do Kitizens think?

Point to point wireless? 

[ejs]

What do Kitizens think?

You get 10 1Mb ADSL lines, bonded together.

[WWWombat]

Somebody's going to end up on satellite ... It's already viable on raw speed grounds, but coverage of non-satellite tech needs to get to 99% before it becomes viable on capacity grounds. And that 99% needs to be averaged across the whole of a spot-beam that's about the same size as England.

Right now, TBB reckons we're at 88% coverage of "superfast" and 94.3% coverage of 10Mbps. Presumably the latter will reduce as we get closer to the BDUK-SEP "superfast" target of 95%, and reduced more as BT spends more of their £129m clawback to get to 96%. By that point, how much will be left at sub-10Mbps

I reckon PtMP wireless is likely to have to fill the gap, but who it reaches will depends on the cluster sizes of remaining properties.

Just how remote from any other properties are you, Weaver? How many other places can be seen from the same surrounding hillsides?

[Weaver]

Discounting next door neighbours who are very close to me, yet further south, I am just under four miles from the nearest house if you travel north from me towards civilisation. Civilisation is Broadford where there is an exchange and lots of bandwidth (as it's a single big route to the north of the island and then on to the Western Isles ).

I am slightly to the north of IV49 9BN. My neighbours are all in a much worse state as you travel downhill to the shore where DSL is 0.8 - 1.0 Mbps (rather fickle). There is a neighbouring village Druim Fhearna a few miles to the east, but that is much further from civilisation and has "no backhaul".

To the north of me there is no line of sight, I would need two wireless links with a long length of fibre between them or possibly three wireless links to get over the moor and down to Broadford. I have often thou about this.

It seems to me that straight fibre is the simplest option. Reliable and no faffing about. If the cost of fibre installations could be brought down by a huge bulk purchase and economies of scale I wonder what would happen.

Desperate locals are already trying wireless line-of-site home-brew solutions, which don't anywhere near meet the 10 Mbps USO nonsense, huge contention, so highly unpredictable, local mafia to deal with, self-appointed captain Mainwarings and no choice of real ISP as these are not wholesaled. One neighbour of mine is providing electricity and land for a node in such a network. Not for me. I'm sticking with Andrews and Arnold.

The government must not forget that people in civilisation have choice of ISP. This must be available to everyone. Having a choice of one p00 local mafia creation which allows the govt to say "box ticked" is not good at all. Same is true for satellite.

[Weaver]

Actually point to point wireless is very problematic around here, it would go down three times every winter when 100 mph gales rip it apart, and then again, and then again, and siting and power availability is so difficult. I've been thinking about this for a number of years.

But what does make sense is 4G / 5G. A massive boost in 5G coverage and a huge discount for rural users on bulk data as long as they have no choice to go with DSL, that might be the way. and I get to stick with Andrews and Arnold as some of the mobile networks are wholesaled - A&A buys a service from Three, I have an A & A / Three SIM. But it's a bit rubbish at the moment because there's no IPv6 (yet). I do get one static IPv4 address tho and it's straight into A&A, so no mucking about, no traffic showing no censorship (!)

Perhaps 4G/5G could be part of the solution for the most difficult parts of the highlands where fibre runs would be just hellishly long. Ofcom would have to force the mobile network operators to be wholesalers so as to enable choice as I mentioned earlier.

[Weaver]

So a very very long winded answer to WWombat's question: I am around 4 miles from the nearest house discounting irrelevant neighbours. (Those who are very close and even further south - more likely begging me for some service via powerful outdoor wireless.)

[aesmith]

This 10meg USO is going to be meaningless if the reference point is solely the bandwidth.  For example we've been offered "subsidised" satellite via Aberdeenshire Council, and that gives us a choice of 10, 24 or 30 meg.  So that's us sorted under the planned USO?    However even the top package only gives 40GB per month, and the entry level 10meg package at £24.95/month only gives 20GB, making none of them suitable for a typical family.  I don't know what their latency is like, but it's going to be pretty poor.   I just have a nasty feeling that services like this will be used to "tick the boxes".

Taking to extreme, if price is no object I'm pretty sure I could get dedicated Ethernet provision out here, but would be expecting £200K plus Excess Construction Charges as well as the monthly cost of around 50 times a typical residential broadband.  Does that availability "tick the box" as well?

Tony S

[Weaver]

@aesmith  as I'm sure you know, that horrible latency will never go away and it's fixed. There is nothing you can do about it. I don't know why the allowances are so low and sexed they don't seem to be top ups.

The suits need to include minimum quality standards for services to qualify to get included as candidates for the USO thing. One thing would be a requirement to provide wholesaling, I suggest. Another would be download allowances and the ability to top up or increase your download allowance, and the third would be reasonable cost to the end user.