Entagroup News

  • Entanet questions the future of the BDUK

    Following the news last week that Geo Networks has withdrawn from bidding for Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) development funds in response to BT’s PIA pricing, leading wholesale communications provider Entanet asks is this the beginning of the end  for the BDUK?

    In an article on the company’s opinion site, Head of Service Operations, Neil Watson, discusses the considerable impact BT’s unpopular PIA pricing could have on plans to make superfast broadband available to everyone in the UK.

    “The importance of the BDUK and the government’s plans for superfast broadband have already helped sway Ofcom to force BT to reduce its original PIA pricing. But Geo Networks (and other potential suppliers) believe this has not gone far enough and their withdrawal from future bids has serious implications for the delivery of superfast broadband to rural and hard to reach locations. This means the BDUK is likely to become more reliant on the main existing broadband network providers such as BT and Virgin Media to reach the last third, which has obvious negative implications on competition within the market.”

    He continues: “The obvious concern is that councils and providers will start to lose interest and faith in the BDUK’s ability to deliver superfast broadband to the remaining third as the government plans and that this could result in a broadened digital divide as the rest of the country presses ahead with superfast broadband.”

    To read the article in full visit http://opinion.enta.net.

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    • 22 Nov 2011

    • Posted in Entanet