Energis lodges new broadband complaint with Oftel

Taking on BT

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 17th June 2003 10:53 GMT

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Energis has submitted a new complaint to Oftel under the Competition Act in a bid to increase the pressure on BT to loosen its "stranglehold on the [UK's] wholesale broadband market".

The latest complaint - backed by Tiscali and Your Communications - highlights what Energis describes as the "exclusionary and anti-competitive pricing" of BT’s IPStream and DataStream broadband products.

Energis - along with a number of others - complained to the telecoms regulator in April about price cuts that favoured BT and discriminated against alternative telcos. They claimed that BT had an unfair grip on the wholesale broadband market by pricing rival operators out of the ISP and corporate markets.

But that complaint was made under the Telecommunications Act which Energis claims doesn't have the clout to deal with the matter. A complaint lodged under Competition law, on the other hand, has more teeth.

Said John Pluthero, chief exec of Energis: "This shows the determination in our fight to ensure fair pricing for all customers in order to speed up the roll out of broadband in Britain and end BT’s stranglehold on the wholesale broadband market.

"Our new complaint carries more weight under the Competition Act 1998 and will ensure that Oftel’s decision is fully scrutinised. We urge Oftel to examine the evidence in light of our new complaint and impose a swift and full price reduction upon BT’s Datastream."

This latest episode of tension between the incumbent telco and those in the industry kicked off in April, when BT announced it was to cut the wholesale cost of its IPStream product.

However, the move was savaged by those who accused BT of anti-competitive behaviour, claiming that the price cuts discriminated against operators with rival networks including those involved in opening up the local loop.

They argued the price cuts applied only to BT's wholesale IPStream product, which provides an end-to-end ADSL service solely using BT's network. The cuts did not apply to DataStream products, which use competing national networks from alternative rival carriers.

Last month BT bowed to pressure form Oftel and cut the cost of its wholesale Datastream product. However, Energis and others say the cuts are not deep enough. ®