United Kingdom - Key Statistics, Telecom Market & Regulatory Overviews

Synopsis

The UK’s telecom market is one of the largest in Europe. Mobile and broadband penetration are comfortably ahead of the European average, while the country is a leader in digital TV take-up. Considerable competitive pressure has reduced consumer prices in all sectors, 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 2008, 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 telecom operators in the UK, examines the status of fixed network voice services, and assesses the market impact of BT Openreach.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
  
• 2. Key statistics
  
• 3. Telecommunications market
  
  • 3.1 Overview of the UK’s telecom market
    
• 4. Regulatory environment
  
  • 4.1 History
    
  • 4.2 Regulatory authority
    
    • 4.2.1 Office of Communications (Ofcom)
      
    • 4.2.2 Ofcom’s Strategic Review
      
  • 4.3 BT’s structural separation
    
    • 4.3.1 Openreach
      
  • 4.4 Telecom sector liberalisation in the UK
    
    • 4.4.1 Privatisation of British Telecom
      
    • 4.4.2 Interconnect
      
    • 4.4.3 Access
      
    • 4.4.4 Number Portability (NP)
      
    • 4.4.5 Carrier PreSelection (CPS)
      
    • 4.4.6 Wholesale Line Rental (WLR)
      
• 5. Major fixed network operators in the UK
  
  • 5.1 New regulations
    
  • 5.2 British Telecom
    
    • 5.2.1 Company restructure
      
  • 5.3 KCOM
    
  • 5.4 Cable & Wireless (C&W)
    
  • 5.5 Virgin Media
    
  • 5.6 COLT Telecom
    
  • 5.7 THUS
    
  • 5.8 Carphone Warehouse
    
  • 5.9 Post Office re-entry
    
  • 5.10 Orange
    
  • 5.11 BSkyB
    
• 6. Telecommunications infrastructure
  
  • 6.1 National telecom network
    
  • 6.2 Next Generation Networks
    
    • 6.2.1 Cable & Wireless
      
    • 6.2.2 COLT
      
    • 6.2.3 BT’s 21CN
      
    • 6.2.4 Cable telephony
      
    • 6.2.5 Fibernet
      
  • 6.3 International
    
    • 6.3.1 Submarine cable networks
      
    • 6.3.2 Satellite networks
      
• 7. Related reports
  

• Table 1 – Country statistics – 2008
• Table 2 – Telecom revenue and investment statistics – 2007
• Table 3 – Telephone network statistics – 2007
• Table 4 – Internet user statistics – June 2008
• Table 5 – Broadband statistics – March 2008
• Table 6 – Mobile statistics – March 2008
• Table 7 – National telecommunications authority
• Table 8 – Cost of average telecoms services – 2002 - 2006
• Table 9 – Communications retail sector revenue – 2001 - 2007
• Table 16 – BT Openreach LLU volumes – 2004 - 2008
• Table 43 – COLT financial data – 2006 - 2008
• Table 44 – THUS subscribers – 2006 - 2008
• Table 45 – THUS financial data – 2004 - 2008
• Table 46 – Carphone Warehouse revenue, profit and annual change – 2007 - 2008
• Table 47 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1995; 1997; 1999 - 2007
• Table 48 – BT retail PSTN and ISDN lines – 2004 - 2008
• Table 49 – BT Openreach wholesale PSTN and ISDN lines – 2004 - 2008

• Exhibit 1 – EU – The New Regulatory Framework (NRF)
• Exhibit 2 – Access and the local loop
• Exhibit 3 – Principal submarine cables from the UK – 2008