Page 101 - SAMENA Trends - November-December 2021

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Ofcom and BT Adopt Changes to Help 10Mbps Broadband USO

Ofcom has finalized the changes that were first confirmed in July
to improve how BT handles delivery of the UK’s Universal Service
Obligation (USO), which aims to bring faster broadband ISP speeds
to those who can’t yet receive a 10Mbps+ capable download speed
and aren’t planned to do so in the near future. We’ve already covered
this topic and the changes extensively before (summary), so on this
occasion we’ll just cut right to the chase. In short, some of those who
applied to request a USO connection from BT have faced a number
of problems with poor communication, unreliable cost quotes
and others were also asked to pay materially higher amounts than
they should have been (e.g. some of those who initially requested
the USO were footing a big chunk of the bill for everybody else).
Back in May 2021 BT revealed that they’d moved to improve their
processes and communication. Furthermore, they also introduced
a new cost sharing “option” for their USO quotes (here), which
enabled communities to “crowdfund and share the excess cost of
a broadband network upgrade “(preferable to lumping all the costs
on to the first accepted quotes / homes). In addition, if more than
70% of premises in a cluster register their interest, a contribution of
an “additional £3,400 per premise” was included, thus lowering the
excess costs that a community might have to pay (it’s very tricky to
get this kind of thing right). On top of that, the 4G solution that BT
shipped in response to most other USO requests was upgraded to
include unlimited data (some people can also get an external antenna
installed, if necessary). Ofcom’s proposals in July largely put what
BT had already done – to improve how the costs of USO connections
are calculated and or shared between properties – into the rules.
But it also made a few other clarifications and changes too, which
have today been formally adopted. The regulator recognized that
BT had agreed to change its approach for quotes where the cost of
connecting a property is not significantly above the £3,400 threshold. number of customers receiving lower quotes in the future.
BT also agreed to refund affected customers and re-issue quotes it Meanwhile, the Government’s £5bn Project Gigabit program
has previously provided. Crucially, this won’t solve all of the much has similarly warned that those in the final 0.3% would be
more complicated underlying problems with areas that are simply far prohibitively expensive to reach (here) and they’re consulting
too expensive to resolve via the USO (e.g. some people have been on how to solve this (we expect new wireless networks and
quoted hundreds of thousands, even millions of pounds). At a certain LEO satellites to be options). On the other hand, BT may find
point, the value for money side goes well out of the window and keeps the new approach to be quite challenging. Likewise, there is a
on running. Like it or not, the cost of deploying Fiber-to-the-Premises risk that the new approach to shared costs could cause some
(FTTP) infrastructure into some extremely remote rural areas can be confusion for those who apply for the USO after the fiber has
insane, which is an unavoidable reality. Such barriers cannot easily been run down a street or lane, following the first customer
be swept aside by good intentions or small tweaks. Indeed, in some request (i.e; some of those who apply later might not realize
cases it would literally be cheaper to build somebody a new house, that they still have to pay their share of the USO cost for
in a better connected area, than to run a new fiber line. Nevertheless, delivery, which could be hefty).
the changes that BT and Ofcom have made should still result in a

T-Mobile Netherlands Loses Appeal Against KPN Copper Switch-Off Schedule

T-Mobile Netherlands has lost a court postpone national PSTN operator KPN’s it announced in February 2020. T-Mobile,
appeal against rival KPN’s planned copper plans to switch off copper lines and migrate while in the process of rolling out its own
network shutdown schedule, and says it services to fiber-optics, arguing that it will fiber infrastructure, relies on wholesale
will now argue its case to the regulator, not have adequate time to transfer its own access to KPN’s network for wide internet
the Authority for Consumers and Markets customers. KPN aims to decommission coverage, and the company has requested
(ACM). In late September T-Mobile copper network services at more than a two-year delay in the copper switch-off
launched a court case in an attempt to two million addresses in Q1 2023, a plan process.
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