BT fibre monopoly?
Meanwhile, in better news for BT, an abandoned Tory tax pledge coupled with its fibre broadband roll out plans could result in a monopoly, according to The Guardian.
A manifesto tax promise from the Conservatives that has fallen by the wayside could reportedly mean BT will become a dominant force in next generation broadband as it is ‘prohibitively expensive' for its rivals to compete in laying the new cable as they will be charged much more tax than BT.
BT has just launched a survey and competition to find out where demand is high for next generation broadband services but cynical commentators have reportedly said BT's move is a publicity stunt and a bid to dodge forced deregulation by the present government.
Back in March as part of its tech manifesto, the Tories promised to drive the adoption of fibre broadband of over 100Mbps ‘by breaking BT's local loop monopoly' and George Osborne, the then shadow chancellor, vowed the party would let BT's rival lay their own cables too.
He reportedly said: "I think the best way to deliver this is by breaking up the British Telecom monopoly at the moment, which holds back companies such as Carphone Warehouse [owner of Talk Talk] or Virgin."
However the pledge seems to have gone out the window since moving into Downing Street and plans to change taxes imposed on new fibre cables by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) which currently favour BT over its rivals, have reportedly been thrown out.
This seems to give BT a huge advantage over its rivals as non BT firms are said to be charged £2,000/km of fibre optic cable plus £20 for every house attached to it outside of London, according to VOA figures. By contrast, BT is reportedly charged just £15 a km.
According to the newspaper a number of court cases have begun to challenge the VOA's approach as it favours BT so strongly.
