SKY Sky has responded to the publication by Ofcom of its discussion document as part of the Strategic Review of the UK's digital communications market.
Mai Fyfield, Sky's Chief Strategy Officer, said:
"It is welcome news that Ofcom is putting the future of Openreach at the centre of its review. For too long, consumers and businesses have been suffering because the existing structure does not deliver the innovation, competition and quality of service that they need. We believe Ofcom should now move quickly to ask the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to undertake a full competition inquiry. In a rapidly changing sector, it is vital for the UK that the national telecoms network delivers a service fit for the 21st century."
In its initial submission to Ofcom's Strategic Review of Digital Communications,, Sky set out details of the standard of service delivered to consumers by BT's Openreach division, which operates and maintains the UK's national telecoms network. The evidence highlights how a history of under-investment has led to range of service quality problems including an excessive number of network faults, failure to meet targets for repairing faults, long waits to have new lines installed, appointments that are missed and jobs that are not completed.
Key findings from Sky's submission include:
- More than 90% of new line installations, which require an Openreach engineer to attend, take 10 calendar days or longer. Almost one in ten installations takes longer than 30 days.
- Openreach changes the agreed installation date for Sky customers on average around 36,000 times a month.
- Openreach misses over 500 appointments each month to install new lines for Sky customers and fails to complete a further 4,000 jobs per month.
- Fault rates across Openreach's network increased by 50% between 2009 and 2012, the last year for which reliable data is publicly available.
- Openreach's performance in fixing faults is consistently below the targets set out in agreements with service providers.
For more information:
Robin Tozer
Telephone: +44 (0) 207 032 0620
About Sky
Sky is Europe's leading entertainment company. The group serves 21 million customers across five countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK and Ireland. We offer the best and broadest range of content, deliver market-leading customer service and use innovative new technology to give customers a better TV experience, whenever and wherever they choose.
Sky has annual revenues of over £11 billion and is Europe's leading investor in television content with a combined programming budget of over £4.6 billion. The company employs 31,000 people and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SKY).
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