Minister: "Legacy" landline charges should be abolished

Telecoms engineerImage copyrightPA
Homeowners signing up for broadband packages may be exempt from the rent on their land line if they do not use it, in accordance with the proposals to be discussed by the Minister of Culture.

Ed Vaizey said charges of about £ 18 per month are "obsolete."

He wants homeowners to pay only for those services that they use to describe the current system as "billing system analog in a digital world."

Minister welcomes BT, TalkTalk, Virgin and Sky for discussion.

One in five home owners do not make fixed line calls, but have to pay for landline connections.

Mr Vaizey said: "If the company came up with a different pricing structure, that is fine, as long as consumers can see what they are paying."

According to the minister, ending hidden costs, such as line rentals may mean other products are becoming more expensive, but he wanted transparency around pricing.

Price confusion

Advertising watchdog, the ASA, and communications regulator, Ofcom's, need to introduce new rules on how such packages are sold in May, after a study found there was widespread confusion about the price.

A spokesmen for BT said. "Any use of the broadband uses a landline I think the focus is more on ensuring clarity about the charges when companies advertise their broadband packages.

"BT glad to meet with the minister and other players in the industry to discuss ways to make costs more understandable for consumers."

BT Openreach logoImage copyrightPA
Business services

In a separate development, said Ofcom's BT to install high-speed cables for the business faster and reduce the prices charged for them.

It follows my review on the "leased lines", which are used by large enterprises and the mobile operators and broadband data transmission on their networks.

Most of these lines are owned and maintained by the name BT competing suppliers.

BT animal needs to be done to meet the growing expectations.

Ofcom said BT speech was not "acceptable", but the company says that some of the recommendations of the regulator has done little to help her "to lay the basis for improving services."

Draft proposal protrude less than a month after Ofcom has promised measures to improve the work of the BT Openreach, which is his business is responsible for the telecommunications and broadband infrastructure.

In February, the regulator stopped demanding it was split from the BT, but said it was still an option.

The BT 'relied on'

Ofcom said that Openreach takes too much time to install leased lines and does not provide reasonable assurance that services will be provided by the date of the first customers.

The proposed regulation would apply to high-speed "Ethernet" services, which are the most common type of leased lines used by enterprises, as well as the old cable.

BT said the construction of new high-speed lines is often difficult and requires street works, which created delays beyond its control.

Jonathan Oxley, Director of Ofcom's Competition Group, said: "BT relies on many companies to install these lines, but its performance was not acceptable.

"These new rules would mean companies across the UK benefit from faster setting times, greater certainty as to the timing of installation and quick repair, if it all goes wrong."

Ofcom said in 2011 the average time between a customer order line and be ready to use increased from 40 to 48 working days.

She wants that the reduction to 46 days of the end of March 2017 and returned in 40 days by 2018.

Ofcom plans to reduce the wholesale price BT charges for leased lines within three years, and expects that these reductions must be transferred to enterprises.

However, the BT said it will not do anything to help him improve customer service.