The UK government’s Trade & Industry Select Committee has recommended gradual easing of regulatory restrictions to encourage carriers to foot the bill for a UK-wide fibre optic grid in a report it has published on the subject. The report was broadly welcomed by British Telecommunications Plc and Mercury Communications Ltd. It stops short of recommending British Telecom should be freed to transmit broadcast entertainment in the short term, but says that by the end of 2002 all such restrictions on phone companies should be removed. However, as a trade-off, it says this should be conditional on the carriers offering equal and open access to their networks for competitors. More strikingly, the report recommends that all areas of the UK not currently covered by existing cable franchises, should be offered to any firm – British Telecom and Mercury included – by the end of 1995. These franchises, says the committee, should run for seven years, unless the franchisee holds a geographically-adjacent licence, in which case they should be for five years. Where a franchise is not awarded by this date – presumably in areas of low population – the committee recommends phone companies and cable television operators should be allowed to co-operate in installing the necessary broadband infrastructure. As regards existing franchises, the committee feels these should be judged on a case-by-case basis, to assess if they still need protection from telephone companies offering rival services. Finally, the report criticises the lack of urgency by the government in realising the importance of such a national information infrastructure.
