Oftel tells BT to slash local loop deadline

The agreement to open urban exchanges three months ahead of schedule was reached at a meeting held at Oftel's London headquarters with telcos including Bulldog Communications, Cable and Wireless, Colt Communications and Redstone Telecom.

Anne Lambert, director of operations at Oftel, said: "Oftel's objective is to ensure that construction of co-location facilities begins in the highest priority exchanges before Easter."

An Oftel spokeswoman said the more popular exchanges were originally given a later date for unbundling because of "concerns that there wouldn't be enough space". However, the spokeswoman admitted: "It now appears space is not necessarily such a problem."

A spokesman from Colt Communications said: "We welcome the move. We were never interested in the first wave of exchanges because the urban areas are where most of our customers are."

The meeting was called because of concerns that only a few players put in bids by last Friday's deadline for the first round of exchanges.

Charlie McCelland, product marketing manager from Redstone, said: "Today's verdict is good news for the industry with urban exchanges being available earlier rather than later."

Operators have also raised concerns about the costs involved. In response Oftel has said an investigation into the costs of co-location space is already underway. Oftel also said BT will begin a cost analysis survey next week, with the results out by the beginning of February.