LLU connections soar but service lags

 

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By Simon Aughton

Posted on 11 Jul 2007 at 11:02

Broadband providers unbundled more than a million phone lines in the first half of 2007. The latest figures from the Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator show 2.42 million unbundled lines in the UK, up from 1.3 million at the start of the year.

However the rise in LLU connections is not being matched by increased service levels. The Telecommunications Adjudicator, Peter Black, notes in his latest monthly report that 92% of lines are successfully unbundled at the first time of asking. That's below Black's target of 98% and below the December 2006 figure of 94%.

By contrast, provision of fully unbundled lines - where the service provider takes over the telephone as well as the internet connection from BT - is fast improving. Right-first-time delivery reached 85%, compared to just 68% six months ago.

Repair performance, however, "remains woefully short" of Black's target, though he notes that BT Openreach is working on reducing the time it takes to fix problems. BT's LLU division is also continuing with moves to improve the migration process for broadband users who want to switch from BT to unbundled lines.

"The overall situation across the Openreach product set continues to be relatively stable, however quality improvements seem to have slowed, mostly short of the agreed target," Balck claims. "We are actively working with Openreach on their initiatives to keep the improvements going."

One of the biggest beneficiaries of LLU has been BSkyB, whose 1,150 unbundled exchanges now serve 716,000 broadband connections, with 259,000 of those added in the last three months.

James Murdoch, Chief Executive claims that Sky is "adding more broadband customers than any other provider". He reiterated his aim of topping three million customers by 2010.

Read our feature on the Great Broadband Con in the next issue of PC Pro, on sale July 19