The CEOs of Vodafone UK, Sky and TalkTalk have written an open letter in the Financial Times calling for radical reform of the UK broadband market. They believe that the current broadband market is failing consumers, businesses and the country, which all deserve fast and reliable broadband access. They highlight serious problems identified by Ofcom with the ownership of the national telecoms network by BT Openreach, including a conflict of interest in the role of BT, poor quality of customer service and difficulties in enforcing the existing regulatory regime.
With an urgent need for increased competition to encourage alternative providers to invest, they want Ofcom to ask the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to undertake a full market investigation. They do not believe that changing the existing regulatory framework can address the fundamental problems identified by Ofcom. The letter was also signed by the CEOs of the Federation of Communication Services (FCS), the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), the Institute of Directors and the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed.
