Quad play
It is not exactly true regarding the set up of the mobile networks not offering fixed lines or quad play offers.
Go back to 1998
Cable and Wireless owned One2one and was also the largest Cable TV operator and also the second largest telephone and Internet service provider at the time.
Around 3 million homes were passed by Cable and Wireless and they actually did briefly offer mobile deals.
Not only that, Deutsche telekom acquired one2one in 1999 and at the same time for a few years Deutsche telekom also had cable and fixed line services within the UK called Eurobell, there was even German Eurobell style phone boxes in these areas.
Yes I know it was dial up then but my point is, all of these companies have had many opportunities to go into the fixed line business and they messed it up.
Vodafone DOES offer fixed line services following the acquisition of Cable and Wireless and also has an LLU network at around just under 1,000 telephone exchanges, this was originally set up for bulldog customers, currently Vodafone enterprise,demon and former Thus customers use the LLU network for those who are too far away from the Vodafone enterprise network.
But why do these companies rely on BT so much? Nothing is stopping them from building there own networks. Vodafone is missing an opportunity here as they could easily build on the fixed line infrastructure they already have by rolling out fibre along sewers,tunnels,telegraph poles and power networks to avoid expenses.
Take a look at Milton keynes, there is no longer a Cable network there and TV reception is a problem, to consumers telephone lines are all owned by BT, yet Vodafone/cable and wireless had a huge base at some business park within Milton keynes, what has stopped them from rolling out fibre,wifi and improving 3G in that area? Not a lot!
If anything, I would relax the universal conditions now and allow BT to boot off companies who lie and treat customers as if they are stupid such as TalkTalk, it WAS cheap because it is atrocious and now they have acquired several other companies such as Tiscali they slowly put up prices and then blame everyone else for there incompetence. Ofcom's role should just enforce BT to provide several vital universal conditions provide telephone and basic broadband as a minimum as and when required,provide public payphone services,provide operator and emergency services,provide directory enquiries,allow access to 0500,0800 and 0808 numbers at no cost.
Rival companies should roll out there own infrastructures just like Cable companies,city fibre and the current rollout of a fibre network across York by Sky and TalkTalk. Time has come now where there is plenty of competition and BT's monopoly ended long ago, now it faces a challenge, people will dump fixed lines for 4G services when network operators start offering unlimited allowances just like Relish, yes it will probably go up to 16mb but that is sufficient for many people and would mean they would no longer need to pay line rental for a underused phone line.
So tell me, where is BT's monopoly?
Sky TV customers: 10 million
Virgin TV customers: 3.5 million
BT TV customers: 1 million
Sky broadband customers: around 4 million
Virgin broadband: around 4 million
BT broadband: 5 million
TalkTalk broadband: 3 million
So in the consumer market, you see that sky has more of a monopoly status, the broadband is quite level as it is near saturation.
It is BT's own fault for the slump in take up of BT vision as development has been slow since it launched in 2006.