22 July 2010
As our guest speaker at the FCS AGM said, FCS can have influence and impact- this is a key job for FCS and it needs industry support.
FCS is the largest association supporting suppliers of communication services and is able to draw on a wide range of companies when conducting research of industry opinion to advise Government and regulators.
A major concern at the moment is that SPs, resellers and their significant base of SME customers are not at the forefront of policy to deliver voice and broadband services in the fibre world. The FCS NGA action group is taking this argument to BIS, Openreach and Ofcom. While Government policy is to ensure a competitive environment in telecoms, the reality is that the rush to fibre might inadvertently block out competition by creating a wires-only regime. Customers can only benefit from new services if they can easily move between suppliers- at the moment barriers such as fixed number portability processes are in the way.
12 July 2010
FCS has started discussions in earnest with Government on our two major projects announced at the AGM last month- business radio and NGA.
We have written to new Communications Minister Ed Vaizey requesting a strategic review of the future of business radio and met with BIS officials last week to explain our position.
In our view resellers will be central to the success of superfast broadband in the UK and we are meeting Steve Robertson, CEO Openreach on 13 July to make our case. This follows sessions with the Ofcom Board in May and BIS 2 weeks ago. We look forward to the BIS consultation on Thursday 15 on delivering broadband to the rural communities and what it says about resellers and migration processes for customers.
Jacqui
jbrookes@fcs.org.uk