The Office of Telecommunications, Oftel, has been reviewing dial-up narrowband Internet access. This is the way most households have access to the Internet. It has found that access has increased from 6 million to 10 million households in the last twelve months and that 35% of these have chosen some sort of unmetered access package. This, put simply, is where you pay a monthly fee and the Internet Service Provider (ISP) pays for your Internet phone calls. The fees are not insignificant, so this method only makes sense if you, or members of your household, use the Internet a lot.
Oftel comments that consumers have some concerns about the quality of the customer service they receive and, a familiar complaint, the lack of clear information to enable them to choose the right package for their circumstances. However, Anne Lambert, Oftel's Director of Operations, said at the time that the review showed that consumers got a good deal from their access providers. She raised an important point - "greater use of unmetered Internet access has implications for the networks in how they carry the large amounts of traffic that unmetered access generates. The review asks the industry whether further regulatory measures are needed to ensure that ISPs get a good deal from their wholesale network suppliers?"
This perhaps is an area about which you have never given a thought. There is a whole complicated structure of Internet service providers (over 400 at the last count), and two underlying wholesale markets: call origination and Internet call termination (the service which ISPs must purchase in order to sell retail services). These wholesale services are typically purchased from telecommunications companies such as BT, Energis, Cable and Wireless, and many others. Oftel is concerned about the interests of ISPs as well as yours.
The consultation document effective competition review: Dial-up Intemet access is available from Oftel's website at www.oftel.gov.uk/publications/internet/imr0701.htm and Oftel has said that it will consult with the Industry and Consumer Groups before reaching a final decision on whether action is needed to promote competition in either retail or wholesale markets. If you have something to say on this complicated subject, now is your chance.
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