Ofcom Cuts UK Rates

LONDON -- Ofcom today published proposals to cut Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) prices.

WLR enables telephone companies to rent lines from BT Wholesale and resell these to their customers. This means consumers and businesses can choose from a range of competing telephone companies offering a single bill for both voice calls and line rental.

The WLR product (currently offered by BT Wholesale) will be offered to providers by the new BT Group plc business unit, openreach, from January 2006.

Following detailed cost analysis Ofcom is proposing to reduce the annual rental charges that telephone companies pay for WLR.

Ofcom’s proposed changes aim to support the continued growth of competition in this market. Ofcom believes that over time, more choice of supplier and more services offered via a single bill will increase value for money for consumers and businesses.

Ofcom decided to review the existing charge controls (set by Oftel in August 2002), following the completion of its work to value BT's copper access network and the cost of capital assessment. Both these statements were published in August 2005.

The deadline for responses to the consultation is 12 December 2005.

Office of Communications (Ofcom)