Over the past couple of weeks the process of local loop unbundling (LLU) has erupted; there have been denunciations (from a former Committee member!), mixups, threats, attacks, defences and just about every other emotion expressed.
Standing back from the boiling tumult, we have already asked one question; will everyone in the United Kingdom ever have broadband access? That proved to be accidentally prophetic, as broadband coverage has become a big issue.
Now for our second question: who will LLU benefit? How many of the telecommunications operators participating will, in the end, supply residential services and how many business services?
It is horribly easy to put together an argument that the ratio of business to residential could be very much in favour of business services. Consider the following reasons:
- easier accounting - businesses are less likely to move physically, are more lucrative per account and are easier to sell follow-on services to;
- more scope for developments - there is currently much work on devices which, for example, piggyback multiple 'telephone lines' onto an existing broadband connection. A residential user is very unlikely to require such services;
- lower security and bandwidth demands - few responsible businesses would use any old Internet package downloaded ad hoc, so 'business desktops' are restricted in what they can do and are usually similar across companies;
- straightforward customer relations - often the decisions on what to purchase are taken well away from anyone with technical knowledge and, if things go wrong, a business is unlikely to set up a Web site belabouring its supplier or alert the media;
- existing prejudice - there have been endless media articles about real profit being in business-to-business transactions, not business-to-consumer.
Then again:
- filling demand - given the high retail price of ADSL before LLU, there are bound to be many people prepared to wait who will make do with unmetered telephone modem access in the interim;
- a rising tide lifts all boats - it may well be that successful business services encourage telecommunications operators to launch residential services;
- hidden provision - just as all current ADSL services are derived from connectivity provided by Ignite, a unassertive BT subsidiary, it is likely that those providing broadband connectivity after LLU will devolve Internet Service Provision and dealing with the outside world to experts in those fields;
- completely new ideas - one of the Committee members has signed up to HomeChoice and sees what he considers to be the first signs of viable convergence between Internet and television. More of this later.
We do not know what will happen in the end, but it is not impossible that LLU will largely bypass residential subscribers and that eventuality must be discussed.