Equality of Access Board Reports on the First Five Months of BT’s New Regulatory Regime
The Equality of Access Board (EAB) has published its first annual report looking at BT’s compliance with the Undertakings. The report also describes the EAB’s activities since it was established in November 2005 as an objective body to monitor the implementation of the Undertakings. The report is available for download at http://www.bt.com/eabreport
The EAB concludes that BT has made a satisfactory start in delivering the early regulatory milestones but the most significant challenges are still to come.
Key points
BT successfully delivered many early Undertakings such as the appointment of the CEO of Openreach and meeting the ‘ready for service’ date for IPstream:
The EAB had some concerns around the IPstream product and the delayed set up of account management teams in Openreach. Both of these were addressed by BT
BT had responded well to the EAB’s suggestions about aspects of its governance arrangements for delivering the Undertakings
The delivery of equivalence for Local Loop Unbundling and WLR products present significant challenges for BT. The EAB will continue to monitor the progress of each deliverable.
The EAB’s report is independently assured by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Following publication of the report, the EAB has been actively engaging with communication providers and industry bodies to hear their views on the report and any other issues surrounding the Undertakings.