According to a recent Guardian article, broadband prices in the UK are set to rise.
The main problem at the moment concerns BT’s Openreach unit, which was set up in 2005 to allow other providers to use their lines. The system allows other companies to rent out the lines in order to take control of the lines of their own customers. This process is known as ‘local loop unbundling’. BT has asked OFCOM to investigate the prices that it currently charges its rival companies to use the lines. The review will probably not be completed until the end of the year but it already looks likely that price increases will take place.
Companies are complaining about the potential rises, especially since costs have already increased significantly in the past. Carphone Warehouse, which relies upon the service to provide its cheap broadband, claims that the service provided by Openreach is not good enough to warrant another price increase. BT, on the other hand, has stated that charges have risen as a result of the unavoidable cost of maintaining the copper lines.
However, it is ultimately the consumer who will suffer from these price increases, since all the companies will have to raise their own service prices. The advice for the customer is to make the most of the cheap prices whilst they last, because next year cheap broadband may well be a thing of the past.
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