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Apr 27, 2006
The Office of Communications (Ofcom) has commenced work to assess the effectiveness of industry-wide processes which enable consumers to sign up to, and switch between, broadband providers.
Ofcom pointed out that current migration systems which use established industry procedures have evolved to meet the needs of a relatively young market. However, as competition - and switching - grows, the agency noted the importance of ensuring that transfer processes are sufficiently robust to support the increased complexity and mass-market scale associated with next-generation broadband access, particularly over unbundled local loops. Ofcom says it will seek to build on work already underway to assess current migration processes, and will consider whether those existing systems are sufficient to meet the future needs of consumers and industry.
As part of this initiative, Ofcom plans to work with Internet service providers and Openreach (the separate business unit set up by BT Group plc to ensure all providers benefit from equal access to critical network infrastructure) to examine how customer accounts and connections are currently acquired, terminated and handed over to a competing provider. Ofcom is also expected begin an inquiry into BT Wholesale's management of underlying line ownership and transfer systems
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