BT on Friday became the latest U.K. telecoms operator to respond to Ofcom’s market rev iew, reiterating its determination to retain control of its Openreach access arm and its desire for a level playing field in the pay TV sector.
The U.K. incumbent once again highlighted the investments it has made in its infrastructure, putting the sum at £20 billion over the last 10 years and pledging to continue spending provided it has the backing of a supportive regulator.
"It is vital for the digital health of the U.K. that Openreach remains part of the wider BT Group as this will enable it to continue to benefit from BT’s capital as well as the c.£500 million a year BT spends on its world class research and development," the telco said, in a statement.
"BT is keen that Openreach continues to provide regulated services to all companies on an equal basis as this model has served the U.K. exceptionally well over the past decade, and the company believes others have failed to make a convincing and evidence based case for change," it added.
Its comments come after Vodafone on Thursday aligned itself with the structural separation camp, sharing its belief that this is the only way to stimulate investment in the market, referring in particular to fibre network rollouts.
In its submission to the regulator, BT insisted that the U.K. has a flourishing broadband market, in part thanks to the creation of Openreach a decade ago.
It also renewed calls for Ofcom to address Sky’s dominance of the pay TV market.
Sky has "easy and highly regulated access to the Openreach network – which has enabled it to secure millions of U.K. broadband customers – whereas BT has struggled to obtain similar wholesale deals with Sky when it comes to content," BT said.
The telco has built up a pay TV customer base of 1.2 million and has spent heavily to secure rights to premium sports content, including English Premier League football.
"BT is driving the transformation of Britain’s digital infrastructure but we need the right regulatory regime that supports fair competition for all and large scale investment," said BT chief executive Gavin Patterson.
"Ofcom has the opportunity to level the playing field by tackling Sky’s dominance of pay TV," he added. "That dominance has led to poor outcomes for U.K. consumers and it is about time that converged regulation was introduced to deal with a converged market."
