The report from Ofcom suggesting that Open Reach can be made an arm’s length company while still owned by BT is fundamentally ridiculous. In the end both companies are owned by the same people with the same shareholders. The proposal to allow other companies to put wires on poles and in tunnels is even more stupid as it will cause congestion under ground in many places, more digging of holes and problems with multiple wires on poles in the country. When failure occurs it may not always be easy to identify who is at fault. It is unlikely to enhance good service and will have to be paid for in the end by customers. It is almost as silly as proposing multiple water mains, or sewers.
While it is acceptable to allow privatized communications companies to offer a competitive service to customers, it makes no sense for a private monopoly to control the infrastructure which carries that service. Open Reach should be publicly owned and charged with the delivery of high speed internet and phone communications as a service to every house and business, for which a monthly or annual rental is charged, in much the same way as water, gas electricity and drainage. The owners can then shop around for the right choice of provider. If a break occurs the owner rings Open Reach, not the provider, which is the reverse of the current frustrating arrangements.
There should be a Ministry of Communications responsible for all of this with a Minister answerable for its efficiency. The idiotic quango Ofcom should be disbanded. This notion that government responsibilities can be contracted out to statutory agencies provides unaccountable governance with huge inertia, endless reports and very little action. Moreover it removes responsibility from ministers who are accountable to voters whose money is funding the fiasco, to a whole lot a statutory public servants who appear to be responsible to no one but a rule book.