BT and Broadband: Ofcom’s Strategic Review of Digital Communications

Ofcom’s consultation on their Digital Communications Review closes on 8 October. It will shape the development of digital infrastructure for the next decade and beyond, and have a massive impact on the private companies that provide it. Ofcom could recommend a major shift in the competition framework that has made the UK a leading e-commerce market with low prices, or could even recommend the breaking up of BT. On 7 October, Ofcom’s CEO Sharon White will give a major public lecture at LSE. Claire Milne, visiting fellow in the LSE Department of Media and Communications, argues here that White and Ofcom not only have to find more radical solutions to BT dominance of the broadband market via Openreach, but they need to support consumer literacy and competence in order to make markets deliver for UK consumers.