Anger and acclaim as Oftel attempts a broadband boost

It's lightly rippled with a flat underside...

Oftel today outlined new options for increasing competition into the broadband market, prompting acclaim from Thus and anger from Energis. Last year Energis and Thus asked Oftel to force BT to provide an new option for DSL supply, known as Interconnect DSL. Interconnect is a half-way house between wholesale DSL, supplied entirely using BT's equipment, and local loop unbundling, which sees a rival operator install their own DSL equipment in local exchanges. Today's ruling, six months after the first draft was published, is too late, according to Energis. An Energis spokesman said: "We are pleased that we have a decision, but we are annoyed that it took so long." However, Richard Sweet, Head of Regulation and Interconnect at Thus, said: "We think it is one of the most significant decisions in the history of DSL and we are quite excited about it." Sweet said Thus expects to move many of its customers from wholesale products to interconnect, though Energis was more circumspect. Energis said it will wait until BT publishes a price structure before it decides on whether to actually go ahead and deploy the service commercially. Both operators felt that Oftel's decision to peg Interconnect pricing to retail prices rather than cost was a bad decision. The Energis spokesman said: "The pricing structure for ADSL will leave BT entirely in control of the market." Energis was also disappointed at Oftel's ruling that an Interconnect SDSL service, providing high-volume data lines for business, would require further trials before launch.