Against the drift of industry opinion, the Cable Television Association is arguing that British Telecommunications Plc be forced to abstain from carrying entertainment television for 15 years – many analysts are beginning to believe that even the government’s proposed seven year gap is too long: the lobby also suggests that a requirement for Equal Access will simply reinforce the existing duopoly and thus Telecom’s dominance in the local network, because customers would not need to change their local carrier to access Mercury lines.
