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CHANNEL CAMPAIGN SPECIAL L ARMY TO FIND ITS VOICE
Let’s lay a solid pathway to 2020
FCS CHIEF READY TO FIGHT FOR RESELLER RECOGNITION
ACQUI BROOKES, OBE is proud of the UK reseller channel. Give her the chance to fight its cause and she won’t give in. She also believes it is a shining light in Europe and will play a major role in taking the UK economy out of recession, if its entrepreneurs are not stifled by regulation and a competitive playing field is preserved.
Brookes’ track record as CEO of the Federation of Communication Services is impressive. In the last decade the FCS has played a major role in...
• The introduction of telecoms fraud legisla- tion.
• Securing safe driving legislation
• Representing industry views to Government regulator OFCOM on hundreds of issues, most recently Next Generation Access and Premium Rate regulation.
• Negotiating changes to new billing arrangements for WLR which
Openreach had sought to introduce which would have caused major cash flow problems for Comms Providers.
Now Brookes wants the channel to help her fight for a better deal for resel- lers in the decade ahead by lobbying against derisory regulations and a more competitive market framework as broadband network technology takes over from copper.
“The channel has to realise that it is regulated and we are trying to preserve its future. The FCS is the regulatory arm of the indus- try representing its views to OFCOM and the EC.
Jacqui Brookes
“The comms channel is the engine for recovery”
“Our big issue with the Government is that OFCOM and the EC has focussed on infrastructure competition which we believe is not sustainable in the UK in the long term.The best way to deliver services is through adequate, competitive retail provision.
“The comms channel is the engine for recovery and we believe the regulator should sustain the competitive environment it needs. It’s fundamentally a policy principle for running the UK economy.”
To underline her view that the channel is undervalued, Brookes sought and gained funding from FCS channel members including Nine Telecom, Chess Telecom and Daisy Communications for a YouGov research project focused on the SME business sector. The survey was carried out in Sep- tember and the results, she reports, were conclusive.
“The survey has clearly shown that the independ- ents are meeting the needs of SME companies better when compared with their
national rivals. And the qualities most valued by all SMEs in their telecom suppli- ers were responsiveness, flexibility and being sympa- thetic to the needs of small businesses.
Tellingly, although 56% of respondents expressed themselves willing to use IP based services, 87% still rate access to traditional voice services as important or very important compared with 34% for VoIP.
“OFCOM and BT under- value the channel commu- nity and should note these findings as they formulate plans for the regulation and roll out of fibre and the services which will be provided over the new networks.”
“In the short term, network changes will not present a major issue to resellers who still have countless small businesses to service reliant on copper wires from the exchange. There are a burgeoning amount of Greenfield sites where fibre to the premises is being delivered and some local communities, such as the Scilly Isles, are taking the opportunity to set up their own private fibre networks and earning money from subscribers.
“Eventually however as superfast broadband rolls out to business premises nationwide, copper will disappear and a replace- ment for WLR revenues will be required if resellers are to protect call revenues.
“The lack of a competitive Voice Over Next Generation Access solution is an issue. The regulator has to look into this,” said Brookes. n
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BT set for voice re-think on fi bre
to BT rethinking its decision not to develop an equiva- lent to WLR in the ‘fibre to the premises sector. BT’s Openreach division has currently dropped its commitment to Voice over Next Generation Access (VONGA) which means independent resellers must use unbundled or VoIP based services from provid- ers such as Opal and Cable & Wireless to offer customers voice over fibre connections.
A
Speaking at the Comms Provider event, Openreach CEO Steve Robertson, who is responsible for BT’s £2.5 billion Next Generation Network rollout, urged delegates to air their views on BT’s proposed new infra- structure.
“The main driver with the NGN is a huge increase in bandwidth demand but the big question is what we are going to do with voice? Our WLR offer will continue and we will continue to invest in it but in Greenfield fibre to the premises sites voice is not hermetically sealed. It is very important that you make your voices heard about this.” The audience response was rapid.
“BT did not realise there was such a demand until they heard what resellers
To join the channel army and get involved in
moulding and preserving the channel’s and your own company’s future contact Michael Eagle at the FCS on 07841 370332 or email him at
meagle@fcs.org.uk and request a membership form.
No sending VoIP traffic over the internet Direct connection to O-bit
, s NGN COMMS DEALER NOVEMBER 2010 43
debate at last month’s FCS Comms Provider event could lead
had to say at that event. As a result BT are now making positive noises and said they will meet with the FCS to see if they can come up with a Voice over Fibre product for comms provid- ers,” said Nine Telecom’s James Palmer. “We achieved this with a few resellers making their views known so just image what we could achieve with more channel players on board and lobbying.” Reporting on the NGN rollout, Robertson said it was getting faster with 100,000 premises a week being connected. He said BT was looking at 25% of the coverage being fibre to the premises. Meanwhile, investment in WLR3 will continue.
We will be completely closing down WLR2 at the end of June next year, but BT is wholly committed to an ongoing investment in WLR3. It will have a very long life,” he said.
In the business space Robertsonn stressed the decline of ISDN 30 and rise of Ethernet.
“From an Openreach perspective our Ethernet portfolio is at the heart of our B2B and comms provider offerings. We have quintupled our revenues against a 50 per cent price drop.
Join the Channel Army now
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