On 10/05/14 20:40, Phil Bedard wrote:
The UK only does this with BT OpenReach since they were the telco monopoly that originated as a government entity. Virgin Media (well all the people who now form Virgin Media) built and operates their own fiber/HFC access networks, the same as MSOs in the US, and does not offer wholesale access and isn't treated as a utility. There are areas in the UK Virgin serves where the wholesale network does not, and areas where they offer much faster speeds, which is the same exact scenario as we have here
I think Patrick was more trying to highlight that there is nothing stopping Openreach and Virgin Media from building their last miles in the same markets, side by side. They do so in many cases, and compete fairly equally for that business. Or, for that matter, anyone else: Metronet[1] are busy building their own wireless infrastructure around the UK, and City Fibre[2] are running fibre up to everyone's door in a number of cities. Wholesale agreements are part and parcel of the business, as is the consumer choice to switch provider without penalty. (And, just to clarify, you *can* buy wholesale Ethernet leased lines from Virgin Media Business, just not the DOCSIS access services.) These examples are really only scratching the surface; the point is that you can switch providers to your heart's content. Or just build your own, should you have the means. There isn't a granted monopoly on end-user access in the UK (anything else is due to economics, and for that, see B4RN[3]). I won't claim to hold the magic recipe for ensuring fair choice for consumers, and the UK market is far from perfect, but so far it's sounding a hell of a lot saner than what's happening in the US. Tom [1] http://www.metronet-uk.com [2] http://www.cityfibre.com [3] http://b4rn.org.uk/