Synopsis
The UK’s telecom market, one of the largest in Europe, is characterised by fierce competition in the mobile and broadband sectors, and by an innovative broadcast sector which has pioneered business models for distributing digital content. As a consequence, mobile and broadband penetration is comfortably ahead of the European average, while digital TV uptake has reached 90% of the population. Consumer prices across the board have fallen steadily, while network capabilities have been greatly expanded following recent investments by British Telecom and Virgin Media in Next Generation Networks. This report analyses the key aspects of the UK’s telecom market in 2010, presenting statistics on the fixed network services sector and an overview of the key regulatory issues including the status of interconnection, Local Loop Unbundling, and carrier preselection. The report reviews the major fixed network telcos, examines the status of fixed-line voice services following the deregulation of the retail call market sector, and assesses the success and market impact of BT Openreach.