BT picks up the LLU pace

The process of bringing greater competition to the UK's telecoms sector is picking up pace, according to Peter Black, the UK's telecommunications adjudicator.

Black, who oversees the unbundling of BT's local exchanges, reported on Friday that almost 250,000 telephone lines have now been handed over to BT's rivals. In some weeks, up to 15,000 lines were unbundled - a massive increase on previous months.

Unbundling should help BT's rivals to open up the telco's local telephone exchanges, by installing their own kit and offering their own services. Following intervention by Ofcom in 2004, which cut the cost of unbundling, many operators have got involved including AOL, BSkyB and Cable & Wireless.

Based on current growth, and the rollout plans of these operators, Black estimates that between two and three million lines will have been unbundled by the end of this year.

Last year, several operators complained that BT was failing to hand over unbundled lines to them. Black said in August that BT's performance wasn't acceptable.

In this week's update, Black was much more upbeat: "We continue to be encouraged with the stability of the key tactical automation platforms… there are no disputes in progress at the present time."

Graeme Wearden writes for ZDNet UK