Broadband bills likely to rise
The Times has reported that Ofcom, the UK telecoms regulator, is reviewing the amount that BT can charge operators for access to its services. An increase in the amount paid by ISPs like BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse pay for unbundled broadband lines is considered the most probable outcome.
BT argued that the cost of maintaining the lines has gone up while greater competition from unbundled operators exerted downward pressure on revenues, and that the ceiling terms set by Ofcom three years ago were not sustainable.
The likely price increase will be a double whammy for ISPs using BT’s unbundled lines, which are being forced to add bandwidth capacity to accommodate the popularity of applications like the BBC iPlayer and YouTube.
The increase will favour industry consolidation, with Tiscali probably the first to go. Added costs will almost certainly work through to the consumer, with ISPs possibly choosing to charge by the amount downloaded as well as by the speed of the connection.
