Sky this week repeated its call for the structural separation of BT and its infrastructure arm Openreach.
The U.K.-based triple-play provider on Thursday made its final submission to Ofcom’s Strategic Review of Digital Communications (SRDC), which will consider the possibility of splitting Openreach from BT in a bid to encourage investment, and improve competition and quality of service.
In a blog post, Sky’s chief strategy officer Mai Fyfield described the structural separation of BT and Openreach as a once-in-a-decade opportunity to ensure the U.K. benefits from having the best available broadband infrastructure.
"The national network run by Openreach relies heavily on copper wires and delivers unacceptable levels of faults and service problems," she said.
According to Fyfield and Sky, BT’s ownership of Openreach lies at the root of this problem.
It "means that decisions about investment in this critical national infrastructure reflect the interests of BT rather than the whole industry," she explained. "To make matters worse, from BT’s point of view, it makes perfect sense to sweat the existing copper network for as long as possible."
In contrast, splitting BT from Openreach would free up BT to source wholesale network services from other providers. This would create a more competitive sector because alternative network operators would benefit from the extra business, and an independent Openreach would be encouraged to respond and upgrade its infrastructure, Fyfield claimed.
Fyfield’s comments support those made by Vodafone, also on Thursday.
Unsurprisingly, BT sees things a little differently.
In its response to the SRDC, the U.K. incumbent said "it is vital for the digital health of the U.K. that Openreach remains part of the wider BT Group."
