BT reveals the cost to share its ducts

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BT has announced what it will cost for other internet service providers (ISPs) to take advantage of its extensive network.

The telecoms company has agreed to open up its ducts and offer telegraph poles out to its rivals, following mounting pressure from the industry to both increase competition and boost the number of broadband connections across the UK.

“Today we’re doing what we promised by offering the communications industry yet another way of accessing our network in order to deliver super-fast broadband speeds to homes and businesses,” said Steve Robertson, chief executive (CEO) of Openreach.

“Although we don’t view duct and pole sharing as the silver bullet to get fibre to every premises in the UK, these new products represent a positive step, opening our infrastructure to supply industry with an even wider range of different mechanisms for delivering fibre broadband.”

BT will charge 95 pence per metre per year for companies wishing to rent its underground ducts, whilst each pole they wish to share will come at a cost of £21.

The current prices are draft proposals and BT said an industry consultation was planned alongside a trial. However, it still expects the offerings to be commercially available from the summer.

Although BT is now playing ball with industry regulators Ofcom and giving in to its rival ISPs, Robertson couldn’t resist a little dig at its biggest rival, Virgin Media, with the call for other companies to follow suit.

“We also think it’s really important that consumers and businesses continue to enjoy a choice of fibre services so we will be expecting others to be as open as we are,” the CEO concluded.

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