The process conceived as a way of introducing much-needed competition to BT now has few friends Broadband Britain stumbled deeper into crisis on Tuesday as Oftel admitted the majority of players have withdrawn from the process to open up BT's network. At the last count nine operators had withdrawn from the process, citing high costs and delays. Now Oftel admits the figure is closer to 25. It is hard to get hold of definitive numbers as the watchdog refuses to give a figure for either those that have deserted the process or those that are still on board.
Players come in and out of the process, it claims.
The regulator is equally non-committal about how many operators originally applied for space in BT's exchanges. Previously it has claimed 28 operators were involved. Now it says the figure was more than 30. Either way it is clear the majority of operators are no longer interested in unbundling. The regulator still denies that this means the process is doomed.