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Fixed Networks

This policy area is now the responsibility of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). This page and all related content will be migrated to the DCMS website shortly, when details are finalised and announced to Parliament.

Competition between the fixed telecoms suppliers has developed rapidly since the early 1990s. Although BT's share of telephone lines is static at around 84%, its overall share of total fixed telephony revenues is now only 71%. Roughly 50% of UK households - some 12 million homes - can now choose their direct-to-the-house fixed link telephone provider. This compares to virtually no choice some 10 years ago. Business users in metropolitan areas now have an extremely wide choice as competition has driven prices down and quality up.

In the year to end December 2003:

  • customers spent over £13 billion on fixed line telephony;
  • the number of fixed exchange lines stands at 34.6 million;

An increasing number of indirect access services are now available, offering consumers very low prices for calls. There are now over 15million homes connected to the Internet. The current number of broadband users has risen sharply to over 6 million. This represents an increase from just over 3million at the end of 2003 to over 6 million at the end of 2004.

The Fixed Networks Team within BIS are responsible for the following: -

  • ensuring the framework of telecommunications in the UK encourages the development of a competitive market for communications services,
  • the development of new networks,
  • business relationship management and the sponsorship of international, national and local fixed link operators,
  • monitoring of the telecommunications sector with particular reference to fixed telecommunications operators.

BIS was previously responsible for establishing the statutory framework for regulating fixed-line operators. On 25 July 2003 a package of EU Directives on Communications came into force changing the regulatory regime under which the whole of the telecommunications sector would operate in future.

One of the principal changes was the ending of the current individual licensing regime. A new licensing framework has now been introduced in which companies operate under "general conditions of entitlement". These general conditions are a set of rules that an operator is obliged to comply with. The aim is to encourage further competition between the fixed line operators.