Ofcom won't cosy up to BT, says Hewitt

 

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Posted on 12 Jan 2001 at 15:27

E-minister Patricia Hewitt has said that new regulator Ofcom will have less of a cosy relationship with BT than its predecessor Oftel.

The new regulatory body, which covers the IT, telecommunications and broadcasting industries, will keep its distance, said Hewitt in an interview with Silicon.com. "The board will know how to avoid getting into a very personalised and often confrontational relationship between the regulator and the incumbent. That has often been damaging in the past," she said.

Hewitt went on to praise the way Oftel handled BT's unbundling of the local loop, opening up ADSL to other operators. She said people were too critical of the slowness of what was a complicated process.

Ofcom is expected to come into existence in 2003. The government felt that one body was needed to cover all media industries and companies like BT, BSkyB, NTL and Telewest were beginning to offer Internet access, telephony services and cable TV and digital TV in one package.

Author: Caroline Gilmour