The Government cannot rely on market forces to deal with the
collapse of a major telecoms provider.
That was the message from an emergency meeting of two authoritative
industry bodies, the Communications Management Association, (CMA)
and the Telecom Users' Association (TUA).
The CMA is the UK's main professional association for
communications users. Its members spend almost £10bn a year on IT
and telecommunications services, while the TUA is major independent
association of business users of IT and telecommunications
services.
The two organisations convened the meeting in the aftermath of the
WorldCom and KPNQwest disasters, to discuss the wider consequences
to user businesses and public services.
Delegates from more than 60 major UK companies and public services
expressed deep concern at the potential damage to all types of
organisations from a major network shutdown.
Observers from the Department of Trade and Industry were told that
reliance by government, regulator and others on "the market" to
compensate for any individual telco's difficulties was
unrealistic.
"The unanimous view was that a clear and urgent need for
legislative and regulatory action exists, at both the UK and EU
level, taking into account the changed nature of the global
telecommunications market and its foreseeable financial condition,"
said Glenn Powell, chief executive of CMA.
Bill Mieran, executive chairman of the TUA, expressed particular
concern about the risks to small business. "While many larger
organisations are taking, or will be taking, steps to protect
themselves, we are concerned that the SME sector may be especially
vulnerable," he said.
The CMA and the TUA will jointly lobby Government to put a higher
priority on protection for business users of communications.
The two organisations will also devise support programmes to assist
both members and the wider business community in the event of a
major network supplier hitting problems.