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Talktalk rubbishes BT broadband stance
UK MOBILE AND BROADBAND firm Talktalk has accused BT of making a lot of noise about its investment without actually doing anything of merit.
Talktalk's group commercial director, David Goldie said that whenever BT makes an announcement about fibre optic broadband, its speeds and its availability, it has a hidden agenda and is always just thinking about itself.
"At all times BT is thinking about how it can recover the monopoly position that it lost many years ago," he said to the Observer newspaper. "I don't think that is going to represent good value for the British taxpayer."
Goldie and Talktalk are concerned about the hold that BT has on fibre rollout, and are supporting Fujitsu in its aim to provide the equipment for an increased rural programme worth around £360m in government contracts.
Even if Fujitsu wins here it will have to bow to BT when it comes to paying to use its poles and ducts, reports the Guardian. Although BT has yet to reveal its prices, it is understood that Fujitsu would like to pay around a half of any likely costs.
"Right now BT knows what its costs are but nobody else does," added Goldie. "I look at it from the point of view of the taxpayer and the market and none of them is well served by having a bidding process that favours one party."
He added that if left alone BT could create a second rate fibre optic system, something that Talktalk would be keen to avoid. "I don't think they are building the right infrastructure for Britain," he explained. µ
Tags: Internet
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@Dai
BT didn't invest/buy the ducts, poles etc though. Yes British Telecom had a large hand in creating our existing infrastructure, but it was all paid for by the taxpayer as BT was a public sector company at that point. During the privatisation period they then basically got all this stuff for free and have been able to charge new companies whatever they want in the mean time. A truer and fairer privatisation would have been to have a seperate company to look after the infrastructure (although Network Rail / Railtrack have showed that is also flawed).
I dislike Talk Talk, but I have to agree with what this guy is saying; BT is not acting for the public in anyway, only to maximise profits with all massive resources at it's disposal. Remember that on top of infrastructure at the time of privatisation BT had every single UK customer on its books, right from the start they had the higher ground and that still largely exists because it's so hard to get into the market for new providers - any customer who wants any kind of ADSL product has to get their line from BT before they can even get another company's product - why are there no other providers that can sort out the line for you? Because BT still has the monopoly that's why.
Sorry this was a very long post.
So BT have bought all the infrastructure, ducts, poles, built and maintain the exchanges over decades and now they have to share these things and not make profit out of them?
It's like you buy a car and have to let your neighbours use it, without charging them the true cost of the fuel and the upkeep. Like .. because ... they're a big corporation ... maaan ... and they should help TalkTalk make money for free ... maaan