BT pricing and unbundling plans come under attack

After industry discussions between BT, Oftel and other carriers failed to find a consensus on which high-speed technologies could be deployed without interfering with each other, Oftel has published a so-called lowest common denominator guideline that it wants every company to adhere to. But some participants in the debate said that Oftel's proposals favour BT.

US network equipment vendor Paradyne wanted to include a high bit-rate digital subscriber line (HDSL) service using carrierless amplitude phase (Cap) technology. Operators using this technology could compete with BT's leased line business.

Cap technology
However, BT argued that Cap technology, which provides 2Mbps bi-directional transmissions, would affect the data rates of asymmetric DSL (ADSL), which it is investing heavily in. Under the terms of its licence, BT has the final say over what equipment can be installed on its network.

Oftel's conciliatory proposal includes Cap-based services, but at a lower data rate than BT rivals wanted. BT said that the inclusion of a higher bit-rate Cap HDSL system could have an impact on service quality levels for up to five per cent of ADSL users.

However, other members of the industry said tests have shown that in 400,000 different scenarios for DSL deployment, the worst disruption to ADSL measured less than one per cent.

Fibernet, a high-speed data networking company, has been selected by Oftel to participate in the DSL trials on BT's local loop, which are due to begin in January next year.

Nigel Pitcher, assistant director of marketing at Fibernet, said: "We are frankly amazed that BT's commercial interests should be put ahead of the needs of businesses for world-class broadband service, and look forward to a corrected proposal from Oftel."

BT said it is unable to comment on the proposals, but it is believed to be happy with Oftel's preliminary technical guidelines.

Esoteric pricing
Meanwhile, BT has come under fire for its esoteric method of pricing individual calls, with some users saying it is nearly impossible for them to find out what it costs to make a phone call.

BT has a freephone number that, it claims, will give details of its call rates. But these can be confusing.

Roughly summarised, current prices, in pence per minute, are:

Although these are domestic rates for landline to landline calls, business rates - or what BT calls 'headline' rates - are the same.

BT also has a regional call structure but, for some reason, it is priced at the same level as national calls. But tariff calls between land lines and mobiles have an even stranger system.

Peter Williams, telecomms manager for the Leo Group, said that the information on pricing is inconsistent. "On a landline to landline, it should be a binary decision - it's a local call or it isn't. But when you ring BT they often can't tell you if it is a local call, usually for a bizarre list of reasons," he said.

The reasons Williams has been given include:
"We can't tell you if we don't know the postal address of the number."
"You can look this up in your phone book."
"No, we're just the department that tells you what calls cost - we don't have phone books here."
"What we need to know is how far away you are from the number you're trying to dial. If it's less than 35 miles it's a local call - can't you look it up on a map?"
"Yes, calling 0207 something from 0207 something else could be a national call if they're more than 35 miles apart, but it doesn't always depend on the address as such."
"Are you sure you don't know where the exchange is?"

Jon Salmon at BT's press office agreed it was all a bit confusing, and said there ought to be somewhere you could phone to find out if A to B was a local call or not. He also said that the reason landline to mobile prices were inconsistent was the termination rates charged to BT by the mobile operators.

Oftel's Duncan Stroud agreed, but added that he didn't think landline to mobile prices were that inconsistent.

What BT chooses to charge for its services is no longer the end of the tale, and a bewildering array of apparently cheaper phone calls is available via resellers from telcos to supermarkets. Asda, for example, prices its daytime national calls at 3p a minute and claims a 24 per cent saving on local calls. Texas based Vartec claims similar savings but admits that "there are times when BT is cheaper".

Both claimed business usage, but were vague on the amount - Vartec said "a lot" and Asda said "a bit". Neither, of course, could tell you if A to B was a local call.

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