07/08/2017
Government proposals for a statutory Universal Service Obligation (USO) that would ‘as soon as possible’ give every home and business in the UK the right to request a high speed broadband connection has sparked an offer from BT for a ‘voluntary’ USO that would deliver more speed, even sooner.
The main elements of the government proposals are set out in the consultation available, together with the impact assessment, at ‘Broadband Universal Service Obligation: consultation on design’. They include
- minimum download speed of 10 Megabits per second (Mps)
- additional quality parameters of 1Mps upload speed, minimum standards for latency, a maximum sharing between customers (a contention ration of 50:1) and a data cap of at least 100 GB per month
- a cost threshold of £3,400 per premise, with demand aggregation an essential feature of implementation
- costs to be met by industry through a cost-sharing mechanism established by Ofcom
The consultation also seeks views on the measures necessary to design a USO that will help minimise market distortion and outlines detailed proposals on how the new right to request a connection would work in practice.
The BT proposals, which were submitted after the government had announced its commitment to the USO, would give many premises substantially more than 10Mps.
It would be delivered largely by Openreach, which was forced by Ofcom to separate from BT into a distinct company, following criticism that it was abusing its dominant market position. However, it remains part of the wider BT group.
The government will consider the BT proposals alongside the consultation.