Industry disappointed by Oftel's 'unbundling' timetable

The telecoms industry has reacted with disappointment but not surprise, to Oftel's timetable for the unbundling of the local loop.

Oftel Director General, David Edmonds, confirmed plans to give BT's competitors full access to the "last mile" by June 2001 this week, but industry figures had hoped the process would happen more quickly.

Principal consultant at Ovum, Tony Lavender, added that the industry has been disappointed that it has taken so long to get to this stage, and is likely to be irritated that it will take another year and a half before completion. "I suspect the process could be done quicker," he said.

Martyn Hart, chairman of the TMA, claimed British businesses are being held back by the failure to have the necessary Internet infrastructure rolled out.

Edmonds claims the process will take until mid-2001 because issues such as co-location - the installation of a rival operator's equipment in BT's exchanges - and pricing still have to be negotiated. He rejected suggestions that BT has been dragging its feet on DSL, saying that he is "relying on BT to comply with the timetable".

However, Oftel did say it will reinforce the arrangements for competitive access to the local loop with a change in BT's licence.

Erol Ziya, co-founder of the Campaign for Unmetered Telecoms said: "There are still many people out there who would have liked to see the unvoiced option considered - which would mean taking the local loop out of BT's hands altogether."

BT said that although the ruling was no great surprise, it still has reservations about the method that Oftel is adopting. It asserts that this route allows other operators to cherry pick the most lucrative markets and ignore less profitable areas - which could actually hold back the development of broadband services in the long run.