ISPs feeling frustrated with Ofcom's BT price hike 'support'

The UK Internet Federation (UKIF) - which represents UK ISPs - has registered its objections to BT's price hikes with Ofcom but still fears the regulator is going to rubberstamp the changes this Thursday.

BT recently announced that it would be raising the prices of its wholesale broadband by as much as 30 per cent for some packages, prompting fears among several of the smaller players in the market that they would be driven out of business and leading around 70 to band together as the UKIF to fight the rises.

Although Ofcom has a consultation period on the price rises scheduled to last till the 26 August, following a recent meeting between the watchdog and UKIF, many of the ISPs felt their objections were futile.

John Tsai, VP of ISP Entanet, said he felt Ofcom had already made up its mind to approve the rises and that the smaller ISPs had been sidelined by the regulator. Ofcom has agreed to review the UKIF objections.

The Federation is now gunning for a better process of consultation to be put in place between small and medium ISPs and BT, because many of them are reliant on BT to be able to provide their services, with many smaller players unable to keep up with regulatory or price changes due to business pressures.