Broadband and home phone giant BT is planning to allow competitors to create their own fibre-optic broadband networks through its underground infrastructure, it has been reported.
The move, which would save rival firms the inconvenience and expense of digging up pavements to lay fibre optic broadband cables, shows a shift in BT policy to adapt to business and political pressure, according to the Financial Times.
In January the Conservatives promised to force BT to open up its cable ducts if they form the next government, but the company said its decision was made independently of party politics.
It told the FT it had been discussing the possibility of opening up the ducts with telecoms regulator Ofcom since 2009.
BT's chief executive Ian Livingston told the newspaper: "We told Ofcom last year we're willing to provide open access to our ducts... and we are working with them on how to achieve it.
"Although it's unlikely to be the silver bullet to get fibre to every home, open access to all ducts, not just ours, might help BT and others extend coverage and so we would like to see a future government support such a move."
This is a potentially very important development in the fibre-optic broadband market. Currently Virgin Media offers fibre-optic broadband to 50% of UK homes. BT is also rolling out a fibre-optic broadband network to 10 million homes (many of whom will overlap with Virgin Media). This latest move allows the other big players like TalkTalk and Sky to build their own fibre-optic broadband networks, as super-fast broadband (and ultra-fast broadband) becomes the next big frontier of broadband sales in the UK.
