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The CUT Logo The Day the Innovation Died Doing Time Online

The Day the Innovation Died Before mid-1994, the Internet was accessed by dialup through 'true' local numbers. This was the obvious way to do things and worked well; Internet Service Providers represented the communities they served and were often attached to cybercafés or other 'new media' businesses. Internet users waited for offers involving unmetered access to take place, knowing that they were perfectly possible with intra-network local calls not subject to the interconnect model. These offers were made. In April 1994, OFTEL took over the role of coordinating telephone numbers from BT, and one of their decisions was to allocate 'novel' numbering schemes. One of these introduced 'local-type' access codes, which meant that such a number could be anywhere yet be accessed at local rates. OFTEL's intention was that services, such as booking tickets or helplines, could be dialled up using local-rate calls from anywhere in the country. But they failed to understand that the Internet could also be accessed this way, and made the catastrophic mistake of not excluding 'numbers to ISPs' from these 'local-type' access codes. At that point, Internet access was starting to become mass-market. And the penny dropped in the telecommunications and ISP industries. They realised - we need invoke no conspiracy theory - that moving Internet calls to trunk networks, thus subjecting them to the interconnect model, was a goldmine. That mine would remain productive until either call costs fell so low unmetered access would happen anyway or someone blew the whistle. It took two years, but 'free' ISPs raised the alarm by taking rather too obvious advantage of OFTEL's decision. So almost every ISP, within the next couple of years, took up 'local-type' access: the telecommunications operators tried to withdraw their unmetered offers as it was more lucrative for them that users should make Internet calls subject to the interconnect model. The day of the OFTEL decision was the day the innovation died. Over the next few years more and more people would come online; almost every one of them would be accessing the Internet through calls subject to the interconnect charge. We have a perfect cartel, albeit one devised by sleepwalkers, which is stifling the development of broadband access methods. Why disturb the status quo? Text by Alastair Scott