Competition milestone reached
The consumer champion has also found competition in the UK's broadband market has reached a new milestone.
It discovered the number of unbundled lines where rival providers such as Sky or Talk Talk offer services over BT's copper telephone network has passed the 7 million mark. The surge in unbundling is down to a set of legally-binding rules Ofcom agreed with BT back in 2005, requiring the telecoms giant to set up Openreach to provide services to its rivals
At the time there were onlu 123,000 unbundled lines in the Uk with most people only being abel to get their phone and broadband service from BT. However, the watchdog's search said there are now 19m broadband lines in the UK, 70 percent of which are provided by companies other than BT.
"Today there are over 30 different companies offering unbundled services to homes and small businesses; This has helped to drive up broadband take-up and drive down fixed-line prices," according to Watchdog.
While 37 percent of households and small businesses had broadband in 2005, the number has now risen to 71 percent, said Ofcom. It also believes more competition has squeezed bills for consumers who were paying an average of £23.30 a month excluding VAT for broadband over a copper line in Q4 2005. The price has now dropped to around £13.31 a month for the same service.
