Government Broadband Plans could be Thwarted by BT

BT, the prominent internet service provider operating in the United Kingdom has literally shocked the broadband sector of the UK by urging the government to auction off the wireless brodband spectrum of the nation, which if carried out can pose a potential threat to the government’s plan to rollout a speedy wireless broadband service to all in the country.

The broadband provider has treaded further to the extent of issuing a warning for the government that it would not hesitate to take legal action if the latter was carrying on with its liberalisation plans. Incidentally, the liberalisation plans of the government were a crucial part of its promise of providing every household in the country with a broadband connection of 2Mbps minimum speed.

It is also understood that BT has sent a serious letter before action to Lord Mandelson, who is currently the business secretary of the United Kingdom. In the letter, the broadband provider has expressed its protest against the government’s plans to extend the vital 3G licenses enjoyed by the mobile phone operators beyond 2021, besides threatening a judicial review, in case the proposals were implemented.

A BT spokesman commented on the issue that BT was having significant reservations around the mobile broadband spectrum proposals put forward by the Independent Spectrum Broker. He added that the extension proposal for the current 3G licenses for an indefinite term represented a present of multi million pounds from the pocket of the taxpayer in the UK to the mobile networks and was a barrier to innovation and competition in the mobile market.

Additionally, the spokesman went ahead to claim that BT was calling for the auctioning of the contracts in such a way that stimulated the competition in the UK market for both existing networks and fresh entrants.