The Conservative Party will prioritise a review of
thebusiness rates tax on fibre networksif it comes to power.
Shadow arts minister Ed Vaizey (pictured) told an
international
conference on
dark fibre:
"Labour's policy on business rates tax has caused huge damage to
telecoms in the UK."
Ed Vaizey said the business rates regime -
which dates from 1601 - was "an active disincentive to
competitive, next-generation access roll-out".
He said responsibility for the rates had been shared by too many
government departments: the Valuation Office Agency (VOA); the
Treasury; the department of communities and local government (DCLG)
which owned rating policy; and the department of business,
innovation and skills, which owned the communications aspects.
"No-one's prepared to take responsibility for the whole
picture," he said. "We see policy shared between a bewildering
array of government bodies and quangos. This is something I intend
to fix."
Vaizey also referred to
VOA proposals to tax wi-fi and Wimax networks. "No matter that
the VOA claims that this is just an extension of the existing
policy - it's still damaging," he said.
He also said the party did not support the government's plan for
a
50p per month tax on fixed telephone lines.
"As Charles Dunstone of Talk Talk has pointed out, the
government's scheme is 'likely to delay next generation broadband
roll-out in rural areas rather than hasten it as private investors
will wait for public funds to be made available'," he said.
Vaizey said the Tories were looking for investment by everyone -
not just BT. "This means that BT's network should be opened up for
others to run fibre. We will not be tied to a particular technology
- copper, fibre or wireless. Competition in liberalised markets is
the best way to stimulate investment," he said.
"Instead of a new regressive tax which will hit those on low
incomes the hardest, we think the market should play the central
role in delivering next generation broadband. But government, and
the regulator, play a crucial part as enablers."
Vaizey said the UK had led the way in liberalising telecoms
markets in 1984. "We were pioneers in mobile networks in the 80s
and 90s. Our thinking shaped European policy. We exported our
ideas; and our companies became world leaders as well.
"The bad news is that this legacy of leadership is now being
squandered," he said.
Vaizey said it was clear that competition drove investment in
telecommunications, but that government policy and regulation
played a key role in market outcomes.
"The key policy challenge is therefore to develop a liberalised,
regulatory environment where investment is genuinely open to all -
not just BT," he said.
Vaizey noted that the availability of dark fibre was crucial to
the roll-out of superfast broadband to subscribers, but also as a
"middle-mile" enabler for next generation access networks to
provide backhaul from sub-loop cabinets and for mobile data
networks. "We want Ofcom do a full review of how dark fibre can be
delivered to the market," he said.
Vaizey said he was looking forward to hearing about Openreach's
plans to make dark fibre available to end users and middle-mile
suppliers.
He said the Conservative Party had already said that others
apart from BT should have the opportunity to put fibre in BT ducts.
He noted network operators in France and Portugal already had
access to the former national telcos' ducts. "We're looking for
Openreach to step forward and offer something really compelling,"
he said.
He also called for utilities to co-operate so that,
when roads were dug up, they would install next generation telecoms
infrastructure as a matter of course.
He said local-loop unbundling could support deep network
competition in next-generation access. "It might need dark fibre
backhaul to support it. But there might be a need for innovative
solutions such as access to racks or shelves within cabinets or
even direct access to DSL (digital subscriber loop) card
management," he said.
Vaizey also gave his support to the work of the Broadband
Stakeholder Group and the Community Broadband Network on
operational support systems (OSS). These are the IT systems that
provide the essential underpinning for access networks and,
crucially, the customer experience. "In a world with multiple NGA
investors, we need to find an efficient OSS solution," he said.
Read more about government plans
to tax next generation networks:
Read more about
network infrastructure >>