The Communications Management Association has slammed
Ofcom for failing to represent the ICT needs of businesses in
drafting regulations.
Speaking at the
CMA's 2008 Annual Conference in London today (26 February),
Carolyn Kimber, chariman of the CMA, said businesses needed
increased competition and choice for mobile and broadband services,
but that the telecoms regulator was too focused on ensuring
consumer competition.
"We cannot repeat too often to people that business needs are
not the goals of the consumer. The communication needs of the
business users are overlooked by lawmakers and regulators in favour
of consumer needs and the needs of the supplier community," Kimber
said.
She said that ensuring comparable prices and quality connections
for businesses was key for attracting international investment from
enterprises abroad, especially in the manufacturing sector, but
that Ofcom has failed to take this seriously.
"Countries like Japan have invested heavily in its ICT
infrastructure and have linked that investment to a 40% increase in
Japanese GDP. I can see no progress here," Kimber said.
Kimber criticised the
recent proposal by Ofcom to de-regulate broadband wholesale
markets saying that the regulator had not accounted for
business needs, and also said that the Department for Business,
Enterprise and Regulatory Reform had championed the needs of mobile
suppliers and ignored the need for cheap roaming for business
users.
Peter Phillips, partner of strategy and market
developments at Ofcom, said that the misconception of the telecom
regulator’s role could be put down to the amount of air time
consumer issues get in the media and that Ofcom was committed to
business users.
“When we speak about consumers, we mean the full gamut of
enterprise customers, and not just the domestic ones. We look to
deregulate where there is a case for bothe the business and
consumer,” he said.