BT
plans to make its ADSL broadband services available to 90 percent
of U.K. homes by the third quarter and cut wholesale fees for the
service, were cautiously welcomed last week.
The
company is slashing wholesale prices by up to 52%, it said, and
will extend availability to around 600 more exchanges.
That would
take coverage to about 90% of UK homes up from 67% - of which
800,000 subscribe at present.
David
Harrington, industry adviser with the Communications Management
Association said that the price cuts and greater coverage were to
be welcomed - with provisos - but that the UK was in danger of
slipping behind on bandwidth.
"Price,
roll-out and bandwidth are part of a trilogy - I would like to see
all three moving forward together to make access affordable for as
many people as possible. The news on price and rollout are good -
although BT is basically laying ADSL in areas where it is
threatened by cable providers.
"Bandwidth
is a concern in the UK," he said. In Japan 12mbps is available on
ADSL, which makes BT's offering more like "narrow-broadband," he
added.
"There is
no technical reason why BT could not offer 8mbps in the UK except
that such high bandwidth always-on connections would knock the
bottom out of their own ISDN and PSTN markets," Harrington
claimed.
BT said
new software has allowed changes to the way fibre is deployed
between exchanges, making back-haul links -the link from the
exchange back to BT's core network - more efficient and thereby
cutting costs.
That will
allow 600 exchanges, which currently have no "trigger" levels, to
make broadband deployment economically viable to BT.
Jan
Dawson, an analyst with Ovum, said, " BT is staking its future on
broadband. It is trying to make the pie as big as possible so its
slice is the biggest. It is hoping to drive uptake among business.
It is good for 'broadband Britain' but it is also worth noting that
this did not come out of any Government directive."
Commenting
on the moves e-Commerce Minister Stephen Timms said: "We welcome
the price cuts, as we welcome any moves to further the Government's
goal of creating the most extensive and competitive market for
broadband in the G7 by 2005. We are committed to promoting
effective competition in wholesale broadband markets."
Wholesale
charges to ISPs are being cut, from £14.75 per domestic line per
month to £13.00, and by more than 50% for small businesses, BT
said.