Reduced Prices for Home Telecoms

Consumers may be on the brink of reduced home telephone and broadband services as Ofcom make moves to level the wholesale playing field. 

The telecoms regulator has revised the list of rates that Openreach, which manages BT's network, can charge other providers for using its services.  The proposals are the start of a consultation process that will end on 9 June.

With wholesale prices potentially falling by more than 10% per year, companies such as TalkTalk and Sky will see real benefits that could be passed on to consumers.  However, those that provide their own cable network, such as Virgin Media, will not experience those benefits.

Under Ofcom's proposals the prices of two of the ways that BT's rivals get access to its network will come down.  The first, called Local Loop Unbundling, allows telecoms firms to site their equipment in BT exchanges and take over lines to customers.  The second, is called Wholesale Line Rental, which involves telecoms firms simply renting lines from Openreach.

In response, BT released a statement which said: "BT invests more than any other company in the UK's communications infrastructure, so it is critical that it is able to achieve a fair rate of return in order to continue its investment in copper and fibre-based services."

Any concerns BT have will be raised during the continued consultation process, the conclusions of which will be published in the autumn.  Any price changes will take affect later this year.

In 2008 pricing for mobile broadband was slashed, and since then the market has expanded from purely business to individual consumers. Sales have soared so much, that according to the experts, mobile broadband is set to overtake its fixed line cousin by the end of this year.



There has been speculation that the popularity of mobile broadband could lead to customers ditching their home broadband lines completely, in favour of a mobile wireless broadband connection instead. However, we think that there is a long way to go before mobile broadband becomes the first choice for connecting to the web and here’s why:

Reliability: The networks are still not very reliable


Backhaul: The network backhaul is not good enough. Operators have been too cautious to upgrade their backhaul as it costs good money.


Suitability: Mobile Web will never be stable enough for large and medium business and it does not cater for heavy data use.


Mobile Broadband does however, offer great freedom as you can get online with average advertised speeds of up to 3.2Mb no matter where you are. It is also very easy to use, with devices that you can simply “plug and play” and finally with pricing now on a par with some fixed line deals, it is certainly cost effective.


However, one thing to watch out for is the download limits. If you exceed your limits which are usually much lower than fixed line services, you will have to pay for the excess.


We may still have a while to go in becoming entirely mobile but the shift in trends is as significant as the one we saw in the mid nineties, when consumers began to choose mobile phones over land lines. So watch this space.