Telecoms regulator Ofcom on Wednesday ordered BT to cut the price of wholesale line rental (WLR) by 9 per cent from £8.74 to £8.39 a month for residential lines, while the business lines were asked to be slashed by 8 per cent from £9.95 to £9.17 from January.
WLR is the price paid by the telephone companies to BT which are then hired by them to their customers.
Consumer groups were of the view that this benefit would be passed on the end-users only if BT's wholesale customers choose to do so. The telecom firms have, meanwhile, been asked to submit responses by 12 December 2005 to the proposed cuts to Ofcom.
WLR charging regime is slated to be changed next year. Ofcom is initiating these changes to improve competitiveness and reduce BT's dominant position, it is reported.
“What we are aiming to achieve is to give BT's competitors equality of price and access to fixed lines as BT's own retail business,” said an Ofcom spokesman. Earlier in August, BT cut the residential WLR charge from £9.24 to £8.74 a month.
“We know from dealing with home phone customers that having to pay a line rental charge before even making a call is something that many don’t like - therefore any reduction in its cost is welcomed,” says Jon Miller, a director at uSwitch.com.
Ofcom also added: “Ofcom believes that over time, more choice of supplier and more services offered via a single bill will increase value for money for consumers and businesses.”
Currently, there are four major home phone providers already offering WLR service. They are TalkTalk, Post Office, Onetel and Homecall.
On the other hand, as ISPs are also offering phone services over the Internet, number of customers paying the rental cost of a phone line is likely to be on the decline.
Posted
on : Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:40 GMT | General News
By : Anne Philips
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