BT should be forced to sell Openreach service, report says
Posted: 23 Jan 2016, 10:34I am finding BT frustrating , as we were promised fibre-optic broadband by July 2014. Since then they keep extending the due date , until they are now saying it will be 2017, yet all the green boxes in the area have that lovely big BTad saying Fibre-optic Broadband is here in East Lancs, when it clearly is not!!!
BT should be forced to sell the country's leading broadband provider because of poor performance, a report backed by 121 cross-party MPs has said.
The report, commissioned by ex-Tory chairman Grant Shapps, said BT's Openreach service had only partially extended superfast broadband despite £1.7bn of government money.
It should be sold off to increase competition, the report added.
BT boss Gavin Patterson said that would create "huge uncertainty".
Openreach, a BT subsidiary, operates the main system of cables which connect homes and businesses to the internet.
Mr Shapps's report suggested 400,000 small and medium-sized companies still did not have access to superfast broadband, and more than five million people were receiving unacceptable download speeds.
It said "little" would change unless BT and Openreach were formally separated, as at present Openreach "makes vast profits and finds little reason to invest in the network, install new lines or even fix faults in a properly timely manner".
The report suggested underinvestment - which Mr Shapps said stemmed from the "natural monopoly" of BT and Openreach - was holding the UK back and costing the economy £11bn a year
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35388756
BT should be forced to sell the country's leading broadband provider because of poor performance, a report backed by 121 cross-party MPs has said.
The report, commissioned by ex-Tory chairman Grant Shapps, said BT's Openreach service had only partially extended superfast broadband despite £1.7bn of government money.
It should be sold off to increase competition, the report added.
BT boss Gavin Patterson said that would create "huge uncertainty".
Openreach, a BT subsidiary, operates the main system of cables which connect homes and businesses to the internet.
Mr Shapps's report suggested 400,000 small and medium-sized companies still did not have access to superfast broadband, and more than five million people were receiving unacceptable download speeds.
It said "little" would change unless BT and Openreach were formally separated, as at present Openreach "makes vast profits and finds little reason to invest in the network, install new lines or even fix faults in a properly timely manner".
The report suggested underinvestment - which Mr Shapps said stemmed from the "natural monopoly" of BT and Openreach - was holding the UK back and costing the economy £11bn a year
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35388756