Fibre Broadband and Market A (1) Exchanges

[#1]

I have just read on another thread that it costs PN exactly the same to provide Fibre Broadband via our rural Market A exchange as everywhere else. I understand that the Ofcom agreed surcharge only applies to ADSL1. Can PN please confirm whether this is correct and if so explain why I am charged an extra £7.50 per month?

[#2]

Out of interest, do you have the thread for this @Baldrick1?

Matty

[#3]

I note that PN staff have been actively answering other posts today whilst ignoring this one. Will I get an answer or is the PN plan that if it is ignored for long enough I will give up and it will drop down the list of recent postings until it disappears into the ether?

[#4]

As above, mind letting me know the original thread where you read this?

[#5]

@MattyC

It's sods law that our posts crossed, thanks for taking an interest. I have not cracked how to put links in properly but you will find it  as a comment from ejs in: Fibre Broadband\My fibre is not all it's bulled up to be on Saturday

Regardless of where I read it, either it is correct or I am getting hot under the collar for no reason so an answer would be appreciated..

[#6]

I remember seeing that but can't remember where

However according to this https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-industry/telecoms-competition-...

The current charge controls on WBA Market A - IPStream services, Wholesale Line Rental and related services, ISDN2, ISDN30 and local loop unbundling services will expire on 31 March 2017.

So it would appear that the Wholesale Line Rental is still controlled and presumably this is why the FTTC charges include it

Also

The Wholesale Local Access (WLA) market review relates to the local connection between the end-user’s premises and the local exchange or access node. This connection can be copper, cable and/or fibre-based and is used to provide fixed-line services such as voice calls and broadband internet.

The Wholesale Broadband Access (WBA) market review relates to the wholesale broadband products that communications providers provide for themselves and sell to each other. These services are one of the building blocks of the retail broadband offers that consumers buy. The wholesale broadband access market sits between the retail broadband market, which relates to the products that consumers buy, and the wholesale local access market, which relates to the access connection between the consumer and the network.

[#7]

@Oldjim

Notwithstanding that Wholesale Line Rental in Market A areas are controlled, this does not fully answer the question. My understanding of your comments is that forgetting internet connections altogether it costs more to provide a telephone line to Market A premises than the rest of the country. It is therefore reasonable that I pay more for my fibre. If true then that's fine - I understand. But, is this the case? If PN are only charged the extra for providing ADSL1 in Market A areas and it costs them the same to provide me with Fibre as the other 90% of subscribers then I feel that I am being unfairly treated - which is not fine.

All I seek is a simple response from PN.

[#8]

The charge controls for Wholesale Line Rental do not only apply to Market A areas - they apply to the entire UK!

Source: Ofcom Fixed Access Market Review 2014 volume 1 page 14

[#9]

I've waited patiently for a working week for a reply. If the answer is that it is PN policy to refuse to answer and/or just ignore such questions then why not just come out and say so?

[#10]

I'm sorry to say wholesale costs vs our costs are not something we're going to discuss publicly.

[#11]

On this page you claim that it costs you more to provide broadband outside of the low-cost areas:

https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/broadband-prices-around-the-uk/

Why do your prices change depending on where I live?

You can get Plusnet broadband almost everywhere in the UK. But in some places our prices are a bit higher. That's because it costs us more to provide broadband there. We call those places non-low cost areas.

Here's some legal stuff you need to know. Sometimes we change non-low cost areas to low cost areas. But we'll never change a low cost area to non-low cost, unless there's a change in UK law that means we have to.

It doesn't say anything about wholesale costs, Plusnet's higher costs could, for example, be that people outside of the low-cost areas use more bandwidth, or that they have more faults which take up more support staff resources.

On another page, you claim that the cease fee is "set by BTWholesale"

https://www.plus.net/help/my-account/charges-for-removing-broadband/

What is this charge?

It's a charge set by BT Wholesale (who supply our broadband network), to cover the cost of removing broadband from a phone line. It's sometimes called a cessation charge.

According to the wholesale price lists, it isn't £30 in the low-cost areas (it's more), and it's zero in Market A (outside your low-cost areas).

[#12]

I guess that the PN refusal to comment on whether it actually costs them more to provide fibre broadband to Market A areas says it all.

[#13]

Do you seriously expect a company to discuss commercially sensitive information with a customer on an open forum.

[#14]

PN state that it costa more to supply a service in Market A areas. I have simply asked them to confirm whether it actually costs them more to provide a fibre service. Why is that commercially sensitive?