The European Parliament yesterday voted in support a law to
require that companies throughout Europe such as BT unbundle their
local loops by 1st January 2001, in the aim of offering cheaper
access to and faster roll-out of broadband internet access
services.
Ministers now have to decide whether to incorporate numerous
minor amendments proposed by the Parliament in rushing to adopt the
formal Regulation.
In the UK, the telecoms watchdog Oftel has required BT to make
its local loop available to competitors from July 2001, six months
later than the Regulation requires, much to the annoyance of BT’s
competitors. However, the Commission is reported by news agency
Reuters as saying it has no plans to take legal action against
either BT or the government for failing to comply with the January
deadline. Oftel has said it is requiring BT to make available only
360 of its 6,000 local exchanges by January 2001.
The new law requires the opening to competition of the last mile
of copper wires connecting buildings to local exchanges. Germany,
Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and Austria already grant
access to the local loop networks.
