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Open letter

By Erol Ziya

AN OPEN LETTER FROM EROL ZIYA TO THE BROADBAND STAKEHOLDER GROUP

It would seem that, according to various press reports, the new head of Ofcom is Stephen Carter.

Executive summary

UK consumers - shafted.

Main body

As someone who has worked for six years or so now to try and ensure that the needs and the voice of the user / consumer are represented in the telecomms regulatory environment I have to say this is most depressing.

Ofcom is a regulator like no other. It is bigger than any regulator in UK history and has unprecedented powers. Things that Oftel would have had to get an act of parliament to implement Ofcom can introduce 'at will'.

Stephen Carter has two years of experience in the telecomms / television industry. He has presided over a company that has been repeatedly admonished by the ASA (one of the few regulators not merged into Ofcom) for producing misleading advertising. He comes from a company that in 17 years has singularly failed to deliver the real competition to either BT or Sky that it was designed by legislation to provide. He comes from a company that has treated its users / consumers with a level of contempt that is exceptional, in an industry where contempt for users is rife. He comes from a company that has consistently failed to provide satisfactory levels of customer support, preferring instead to spend billions on ill-founded acquisitions, that have done nothing to benefit consumers. He comes from a company that has consistently failed to meet the needs of users, with significant franchise areas still unable to get broadband services or digital TV services, after 17 years and billions spent. He has stated that "OFCOM should have a positive duty to promote the development of a competitive market for broadband access to the new digital services" and the number one way of achieving this is "ensuring the environment continues to be commercially viable for access companies like NTL to build new communications infrastructures". These views are the views of 1985. Nothing it would seem has been learnt by the failures of the last 17 years. In a single appointment the UK government has re committed itself to a 'single track' policy, with regards to telecomms infrastructure regulation, that has been shown by 17 years of hindsight to be flawed and that does not best serve the needs of the public interest. To have made the wrong choice in 1985 was to a degree understandable. To recommit to that wrong choice in 2003, after so clear a history of failure to drive real competition is nothing short of a massive betrayal of the public interest. This is a victory for vested interest over the public interest. It is a victory for big business over consumers.

I sincerely hope that my initial view of this appointment is totally incorrect. That Stephen Carter in the role at Ofcom can and will ensure that the public interest is protected "against" the vested interest of big business. That he will place consumers and consumer needs at the heart of this unique and all-powerful 'uber' regulator, and not the needs of the industry. However there is nothing in his history to date that would lead me to believe this will be the case.

As a consumer my initial reaction to this appointment is 'shafted'.
As a campaigner for user empowerment my initial reaction is 'disappointment and disgust'.

My first thought was to just give up trying to convince the government that users can and should have a voice in how telcomms is regulated in their names. To give up trying to convince them that if they remove the regulatory shackles from users we can and will build networks that change people lives, in ways that commercial interests are simply unable to do let alone willing to do. To give up trying to convince them that we need to understand the failings of policy to date in light of the experience of the last 17 years.

My second thought was 'fight and fight harder.' It is a setback and a massive one at that. Use it to make 'us' stronger, more determined not to let the empowerment potential of these wondrous technologies get sacrificed on the altar of commercial vested interest. More determined to show that NTL, BT, Energis, Easynet, et al do not build networks that can change peoples lives, empower people and change the world. More determined to show that we can and will and that we will not rest until we do so.

I will give Stephen Carter a chance to show that his objective is to use his position to promote the public good and not vested commercial interest. I will give him the chance to prove that my worst fears are unfounded. I will not however "give up" the fight. If it becomes clear that he is part of the problem and not the solution I will set myself against him, regardless of his power his influence and his uber regulator. At the end of the day he is a "public servant". I will do everything in my power to hold him to account as such, even if it is utterly hopeless, even if I represent nothing more than an un-empowered and lone voice in the wilderness. ®

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