It would be wrong for the UK Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to suspend BT’s rollout of superfast broadband coverage over extra charges it made to councils, according to a leading analyst.
The government had awarded the telecoms firm £1.2bn for rural broadband contracts, but audits have revealed that BT could be overcharging councils by up to 35%.
BT claimed the savings were made from the multiple contracts awarded and that the money would be used to extend coverage, but the PAC has argued that BT should not be allowed to bid for the next round of broadband funding worth £250m.
Matthew Howett, a telecoms and technology analyst at Ovum, told CBR it would be a mistake to suspend the funding as BT seems "very willing" to be transparent.
"Given the fact that BT has got large scale and negotiates well with its supplies based on its commercial rollout, I’m sure that it’s passing on those benefits in terms of the contracts that they’ve been awarded in the negotiations ongoing with BT UK," he explained.
"And the fact is that all of that costing information is out there and is available to councils. So I think it would be surprising if they weren’t passing that on.
He added: "There seems to have been a few hold ups which are actually down to the various reasons the councils have put in place, which have prevented BT from disclosing information.
"It’s not necessarily BT not wanting to but the local authority. It’s down to the council to share the information."
