BT hits back at Virgin Media Claims

Communications giant BT has recently hit back following claims from rival provider Virgin Media that the BDUK scheme would cement BT’s dominance of fibre networks in rural areas.

According to recent reports communications giant BT has recently hit back following claims from rival provider Virgin Media that the BDUK scheme would cement BT’s dominance of fibre networks in rural areas. The chief executive of Virgin said in a recent interview that although competition amongst providers in urban areas was fierce there was no competition facing BT in rural areas.

A spokesperson for BT has now stated: “Virgin Media is in no position to lecture BT on rural broadband. BT has brought copper broadband within reach of 99 percent of UK homes, whilst Virgin have cherry-picked over the years and ignored rural areas. We believe that Openreach is well placed to secure many of the funds that are being made available, but that is because it operates a network that is open to other companies on an equivalent basis and so we bring competition with us.”

In a recent interview Virgin said: “We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make the ambition of a fully digitally-enabled society a reality beyond the country’s cities and towns. So it’s disappointing BT continues to attempt to talk about where we are, while others are trying to find a solution to the delivery of quality broadband to the ‘final third’ — rural areas where there is no other infrastructure except BT’s government-gifted ducts and poles.”

Virgin added: “It is absolutely right to focus efforts — and precious public funding — in areas where the market is failing. However it is vital that it does so in a way in that creates a truly competitive investment dynamic, rather than effectively replicating a past monopoly that will require further regulation in future.”

Do you believe that the BDUK scheme will enable BT to monopolize rural broadband?

Source – ZDnet