Experts blast telcos for slow Euro DSL rollout

Fears about lost revenue have been blamed for the slow roll-out of DSL services in Europe in a report from research firm IDC Wednesday.

Although most of Europe's PTOs (Public Telephone Operators) tested DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) some time ago, commercial offerings did not begin to appear until the middle of this year. In the UK BT is trialling DSL services but no firm date has been set for rollout.

IDC analyst Scott Moore believes European PTOs are scared about losing money. "PTOs have been reluctant to risk cannibalising revenue streams from existing access services such as leased lines and ISDN," he said.

Moore thinks that unbundling the local loop -- where PTOs networks are opened up to other operators -- will force PTOs to rollout DSL services before alternative telcos or ISPs launch their own. "This has already occurred in Denmark and the Netherlands, where it seems to have spurred the PTOs into launching DSL services earlier than they had previously planned," he said.

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