December 2005
Our industry reached a watershed at the conclusion of Ofcom’s Telecommunications Strategic Review earlier this year. The Undertakings offered by BT and accepted by Ofcom create clarity and certainty for all of us in our industry. They also help pave the way for a new era of cooperation and regulation where necessary and, we believe, form the basis for a discussion on de-regulation where regulation is no longer required.
Delivering against the undertakings - our commitment - is a major programme of activity for BT and one that we are embracing across the company. The programme affects many parts of BT, and tens of thousands of our people.
Delivering our overall commitment means delivering against multiple milestones. Some of the milestones are very big and high profile, such as the creation of Openreach, the new business being created within the BT Group responsible for managing the UK access and backhaul networks, or the delivery of product equivalence.
This newsletter, which will be published regularly, is designed to keep you informed of the progress we’re making against the multiple separate milestones that, combined, make up our responsibility under the settlement. I hope you find it useful.
Peter McCarthy-Ward
Director of Equivalence
BT is actively communicating and consulting on many aspects of the Undertakings. The company will issue various product specific briefings, hold consultation events and discuss at existing industry forums and bilateral meetings to ensure that industry is fully aware of progress and has an opportunity to influence our programmes.
BT provided the first Estimate of Available Space on the 31st October 2005.
A copy of the Estimate was provided to Ofcom and to interested CPs and was also placed (as a temporary measure) on a secure part of the LLU web site at www.btinterconnect.com. We will be moving the Estimate to the www.btwholesale.com website shortly and this will then be the permanent channel of communication to the industry for this information.
BT will continue to provide regular Estimates of Available Space for other CPs to place equipment in BT telephone exchanges. This information will be updated each November.
The CPPUG (Communications Providers Property Users Group) which is referred to in the Undertakings as the group to be set up to represent CPs, has not been established by the industry, and discussions are underway as to whether this Group is still required.
BT is driving forward with systems and process developments to ensure it delivers Equivalence of Input for specified products, including migrations, in line with the Undertakings. This means the provision of specified products to all CPs, including BT's downstream businesses, on the same timescales, terms and conditions, and by means of the same systems and processes offering the same reliability and performance.
BT is improving the transparency it provides to industry on its regulated products to demonstrate that it is not disadvantaging industry compared to its own downstream businesses. Specific programmes, including consultation on Reference Offers for DataStream and Partial Private Circuits (PPCs), are helping BT to address customer issues around these services, as well as Carrier Pre-Select (CPS).
BT Wholesale has restructured its product management team into three separate units to ensure the management of its regulated and important industry products is ring-fenced, and that information flows between them are properly controlled.
View complete article "BT Wholesale Product Team Reorganisation"
The creation of Openreach, the new business within BT formerly referred to as Access Services, is on track to launch and be fully operational from January 2006.
To ensure that our people understand how the Undertakings affect their individual and collective responsibilities, a major programme of communications, training and compliance is underway across BT.
View complete article "It Matters. Building Good Practice at BT"