Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the state aid approval in relation to BDUK requires BT to provide Wholesale Open Access to other communication providers for ducts and poles built with BDUK funding which are (i) over one km in length and cost more than £50,000 to build and (ii) less than one km in length and cost less than £50,000 to build.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The UK 2012 state aid Decision applied different wholesale access conditions to new and existing infrastructure. On new infrastructure over one km in length and costing more than £50,000 to build, BT must provide access for any purpose, while on existing infrastructure and on new infrastructure less than one km in length or costing less than £50,000 to build, the primary use must be retail services (with business services only permitted where it supports the primary objective.) Both cases exceed what is required by Ofcom under regulation.