Wanadoo UK kicks off Leeds LLU trial

Said it would

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 2nd August 2005 14:42 GMT

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Wanadoo UK is about to begin a month-long trial in Leeds for its own broadband service.

Some 500 net users linked to three exchanges will be uncoupled from BT's network and wired up to Wanadoo's service as part of its local loop unbundling (LLU) plans.

The ISP declined to reveal too many details about the trial insisting that it needed a period of evaluation following the pilot to assess the success of the scheme.

Wanadoo is a keen backer of LLU as an alternative method of providing broadband to end users. Last December parent company France Telecom announced it had begun making "substantial and significant" investment in LLU so that it provide more innovative products to net users.

And on Sunday the ISP published an open letter to BT boss Ben Verwaayen poking fun at the UK's dominant telco knee-jerk reaction to Wanadoo's move to double broadband speeds.

In a dig at BT's position as both a wholesale and retail supplier of broadband the letter says: "OK, we may have to charge £20 to upgrade an existing customer to 2 Meg - but you know why that is don't you? Yes, it's because you folks at BT charge us to do it. Still, local loop unbundling will sort that issue out won't it? ®