Daren Baythorpe, CEO of ITS
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
The Snom
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offi ce.uk@snom.com | snom.com
M90
COMMS NEWS
OFCOM TO DRIVE FIBRE INVESTMENT
OFCOM HAS SET out new
proposals recently which aim
to drive investment in the fi bre
roll out, particularly in rural
areas. Ofcom says the fl exible
regulation will help fuel a fullfi
bre future for the whole of the
UK.H
aving a choice of networks
has delivered signifi cant
benefi ts to people, such as
innovation, better services
and competitive prices. In
2017, Ofcom set out a range of
pro-investment measures that
kickstarted full fi bre rollout by a
range of broadband companies.
Since then, full fi bre coverage
has trebled.
Next year, Ofcom plans
to vary the regulations for
different parts of the country,
which – combined with the
Government’s planned £5bn
funding for rural areas – will
help ensure nobody gets left
behind.
Ofcom is proposing to
supercharge the strategy with
a four-point plan to support
competitive investment in fi bre
networks.
1. Improving the business
case for fi bre investment. In
more urban areas, Ofcom is
proposing that the wholesale
price Openreach charges
retail providers for its entrylevel
(40 Mbit/s) superfast
broadband service is capped
to infl ation. This follows a
signifi cant cut Ofcom made
to this product in our 2018
review, and still provides for
a margin on fi bre investment,
as build costs fall.
2. Protecting customers and
driving competition. Ofcom
will ensure people can still
access affordable broadband
by capping Openreach’s
wholesale charges on its
slower copper broadband
services.
3. Taking rural areas into the
fast lane. In more sparselypopulated
rural areas,
where there is no prospect
of multiple networks being
built, Ofcom plan to support
investment by Openreach
– the only operator with a
large-scale rural network.
4. Closing the copper network.
Openreach needs to
retire its ageing copper
wires so it does not have
the unnecessary costs
of running two parallel
networks. Ofcom plans
to remove regulation on
Openreach’s copper products
in areas where full fi bre is
built.
ITS COMPLETES £45M DEAL
GIGABIT NETWORK OPERATOR ITS has secured a £45m deal with Aviva
Investors to fast track its plans to build transformational full fi bre
networks across the UK.
The previous PE partner, Maven Capital Partners, has exited the
company along with a number of other shareholders.
This investment round will allow ITS to build several new full fi bre
networks, as well as to build out its current footprint; contributing to the
Government’s ‘full fi bre to every premise’ agenda. Operating a wholesale
model, its networks give businesses and residential communities access
to a choice of gigabit capable connectivity services via a range of ITS
partners which include ISPs and resellers.
/www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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