Three UK telecoms executives are among seven business leaders that have written to the Financial Times, calling on Ofcom to refer its review of the communications market to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Jeremy Darroch, Chief Executive, Sky, Dido Harding, Chief Executive, TalkTalk and Jeroen Hoencamp, Chief Executive, Vodafone UK have each put their name to the letter, alongside the director-general of the Institute of Directors and the chief executive of the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed
At issue is the role of BT Openreach, the infrastructure division of BT responsible for providing access to the BT network for third party companies.
“There is an urgent need for increased competition so that alternative providers are encouraged to invest and innovate to solve the challenges ahead. These include investment to deliver broadband coverage in hard to reach areas, improved service quality and reliability, fibre products suitable for Britain’s SMEs, and new ultrafast broadband services,” says the letter.
The signatories say there is a conflict of interest in the role of BT, poor quality of customer service and difficulties in enforcing the existing regulatory regime. They say Ofcom has insufficient powers to deal with the issues of a superfast world.
On Friday BT said it would create 1,000 new UK jobs by restoring British call centres.
In July Ofcom published a consultation suggesting Openreach be separated from BT as a whole.
