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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: axial who wrote (19542)	2/12/2007 8:00:19 AM
From: Peter Ecclesine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Hi Jim, >>How is it that in the UK, OFCOM has made instituted a major broadband turnaround with BT, when BT faces the same problems as its North American counterparts?<< BT is an MVNO without expensive coverage mandates. BT is not facing muni fi nor muni fiber. BT owns Ofcom, it never owned the UK Radiocommunications Agency. petere Does RBC stand for Rogers, BCE, Clearnet or the Royal Bank of Canada?

To: axial who wrote (19542)	2/12/2007 5:37:52 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 46821

BT admits ‘mistakes’ in Openreach by Antony Savvas \| 8 February 2007 ComputerWeekly.com computerweekly.com BT has admitted it made fundamental mistakes in the setting up of its broadband service firm BT Openreach. The admission came from Anne Heal, BT Openreach managing director of sales, products and marketing, at this week’s Communications Management Association conference in London. BT Openreach started operating in January 2006 and was set up to create an even playing field in the broadband market. However, BT Openreach has failed to deliver the service it promised, according to an independent telecoms adjudicator set up by Ofcom. Openreach has continuously failed to deliver services right at the first attempt and has been unable to repair infrastructure on time. “Openreach is now understanding and beginning to keep ahead of the curve, which will continue to rise,” said Heal. She added that Openreach was involved in a recruitment drive and was spending large amounts on basic infrastructure improvement to help avoid faults in the first place. Heal said Openreach had been caught out by the rapid high demand for its services by BT competitors; had found forecasting to be difficult; demand volatile, changing from one week to the next; and an uneven spread of jobs, both geographically and technically. The organisation had also been hindered by physical limitations in BT exchanges. Delegates at the CMA conference questioned Heal over service level agreements. One attendee from HSBC asked whether more attention should have been paid to customer service, rather than creating a level playing field for rival telecoms suppliers. Heal said, “The focus was on getting an even playing field; it wasn’t a main aim to cover SLAs. Over the course of the year, the whole stakes have been upped, and now there is more of a focus on what we can achieve as an industry – it wasn’t about SLAs in the beginning.” If Openreach doesn’t improve its service levels, it risks legal action by Ofcom or BT’s competitors. Telecoms industry 'has ignored businesses’ needs' BT Local Loop Unbundling key performance indicators -------------------- Ofcom chairman rejects fibre optics 12th February 2007 Ofcom has no plans to force telecoms providers to install optical fibre cabling to improve broadband speeds for homes and business located far from their local exchange. The regulator's chairman Lord Currie told the Communications Management Association's (CMA) annual conference that there is currently no case for regulating on fibre to the home (FTTH, also known as fibre to the premises, FTTP, or fibre to the building, FTTB). 'For customers who live too far from an exchange, technically this is a problem that could be solved by fibre,' he said.. 'But the services are not yet defined, the technology is not yet stable, and so it is too early for a regulatory approach. The case for digging up the road is a rather weak one.' [fac: must the glass rot in the ground first?] After conference delegates questioned his arguments, Currie conceded that there may be a case for deploying fibre to street cabinets, but no further. But his remarks will be no consolation to the 41 per cent of businesses who, according to a recent CMA survey, could not get broadband where they needed it, not to mention domestic users who may be unable to access the emerging range of high-bandwidth Net services such as IPTV. BT, one of the few ISPs and network operators that could conceivably afford widespread FTTH installations, said late last year that it had no plans to adopt the technology as it is confident that its 21st Century Network 'will comfortably support customers' immediate needs'. Simon Aughton ------ It sounds more each day like BT and AT&T were born with the same genes. FAC