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Tag: "BT"

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New paper on NZ telecoms separation
By Russ on May 06th, 2010

New paper on NZ telecoms separation

Click *here* for the article.  While the article mainly focuses on NZ, there is considerable discussion of Ofcom’s strategic telecoms review and 2005 actions creating Openreach.
Title:  International Experience with Vertical Separation in Telecommunications – The Case of New Zealand
Authors:  Reto Bleisch and J. Scott Marcus
Abstract:
Vertical separation is increasingly recognised as a means of ensuring [...]

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Ofcom’s BT duct / pole sharing proposals
By Russ on March 24th, 2010

Ofcom’s BT duct / pole sharing proposals

Ofcom’s Wholesale Local Access (WLA) market consultation is fascinating reading.
In my former life I was a communications attorney who often dealt with an ugly but important side of the business:  facilities emplacement.  It’s a huge issue but one that rarely gets the attention it deserves.  Think about the big picture:  In the long migration from [...]

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By Russ on December 06th, 2009

BT pension deficit: what should Ofcom do?

It’s probably a central tenet of regulatory theory:  The more symbolic and pointless a regulatory activity is, the more interested the public seem to be.  In the media and communications sector, this means that broadcast content adjudications by Ofcom are the talk of the town.  But more meaningful regulatory actions by Ofcom, such as the [...]

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By Russ on November 05th, 2009

Openreach insiders reveal pressure to levy bogus charges

Folks, what we have seen over the past 4 years with Openreach is the formation of a very comfortable and in some important respects unaccountable monopoly.  With Ofcom’s focus on equivalence of access for retail telecommunications competitors, it looks as if other legitimate concerns such as lack of infrastructure investment, dodgy business practices and gold-plating [...]

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Report slams Ofcom’s functional separation of BT
By Russ on September 30th, 2009

Report slams Ofcom’s functional separation of BT

A recent report from the Brookings Institution (details below*) makes for very interesting reading for those interested in the UK telecommunications sector.  The authors basically use data concerning European broadband development and network investment to argue that Ofcom made a serious policy error when it functionally separated BT / Openreach in late 2005.
Here’s a nugget:
[Prior [...]

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By Russ on June 01st, 2009

CSI:Ofcom — the Pay TV investigation two years later …

I am a big critic of Ofcom’s Pay TV investigation.  It looks like a solution in search of a problem and it has dragged on far too long.  The real kicker:  There’s probably not much that can come of it that will ever benefit television viewers in the UK.  It looks like a forthcoming litigation-fest [...]

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By Russ on April 30th, 2009

Charles Russell on regulatory holidays…

The law firm Charles Russell has an excellent new blog.
Yesterday they discussed the possibility of regulatory holidays (for the telecommunications sector) sneaking in the back door via the political route.  They indicate that such a result might destroy Ofcom’s reputation and the international best practice of equivalence of access principles.
Well I disagree.  I’m a huge [...]

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