Six million lines now unbundled in U.K.

Six million lines now unbundled in U.K.

The progress of unbundling telephone lines in the UK has reached a significant milestone with six million lines now out of BT's hands. Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) is a process that gives other communications providers the ability to use BT's copper telephone lines to offer broadband and telephone services without having to pay wholesale charges to BT. This means that ISPs such as Sky and TalkTalk can offer packages with significantly reduced line rental charges, for example, and higher speeds than BT or BT-based services. Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief executive, said: "In just four years unbundling has gone from a flicker on the dial to a major competitive force in telecoms. This has delivered the dual benefits of driving up broadband take-up and driving down prices." Ofcom reckons that consumers were paying on average £23.30 a month, excluding VAT, for a broadband service delivered over a copper phone line in the last quarter of 2005, but since the introduction of LLU, that figure is now closer to £13.61 excluding VAT. BT set up a division known as Openreach to look after LLU in 2005, but the Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator (OTA), the body tasked with overseeing the process, was recently critical of Openreach's progress. According to the Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator (OTA) "a number of issues remain outstanding that should have been closed down some time ago", despite the landmark figure having been reached.