5 June 2007
The recent broadband speed wars which saw Virgin Media, BSkyB and others fight over which had the fastest bandwidth have been declared as not in the interest of the consumer by BT.
Angus Flett, BT Wholesale's Director of Product Management, recently told technology magazine The Register: "I think the speed wars didn't provide value for customers...[they] don't give two hoots about speed."
Mr Flett claimed that consumers were more interested in the application side of the technology, such as the availability of internet protocol TV (IPTV), rather than how fast they could download content - he believes that consumers will ultimately choose substance over speed.
Consumers were also thought to be uneducated in the complexities of the line system, particularly given the fact that the increasing popularity of applications like video-streaming and online gaming takes up an enormous amount of the available bandwidth, which subsequently slows down the bandwidth speed.
The superiority of BT's lines would see consumers choose it over other broadband providers, Mr Flett added, since the quality of its rivals local loop unbundled (LLU) lines was decidedly poorer than BT's.
BT's highly anticipated 21CN lines will offer up to a 24 Mbit/s service, but currently there are no plans for further progression, prompting critics to accuse the telecommunications company of under-investing in future technology when compared to overseas rivals.
Vodafone and the Post Office are among the big names which have recently signed up to BT Wholesale's lines, while Virgin Media, one of BT Broadband's biggest rivals, chose to sign up with Cable & Wireless' LLU service.
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