Examination of Witnesses (Questions 160
- 162)
MONDAY 9 JULY 2007
Mr Simon Grossman
Q160 Baroness Eccles of Moulton:
This is not at all what we were told at the time.
Mr Grossman: I believe there are issues sometimes
in terms of physical space and capacity. In some BT exchanges
there have been issues that there simply has not been—
Q161 Baroness Eccles of Moulton:
They could not fit the box in?
Mr Grossman: Yes, there has not been the room
to install the equipment. Again, I am no expert on BT exchanges
so I would not like to comment further but I believe that of itself
in some instances has been an issue.
Q162 Lord St John of Bletso:
I think what Lady Eccles is referring to is the extent of dispersible
bandwidth, the limited amount that is available, and there has
not been the extent of dispersible bandwidth for some of the additional
services necessarily needed for that extent of broadband.
Mr Grossman: It is hard to know exactly where
the issue came up. All telecom networks are to some extent constrained
by capacity and data speeds are determined by capacity and links
to the exchange. If the Committee has previously taken evidence
that there were issues on capacity in respect of the fact that
it prevented roll-out of broadband, I would not immediately know,
other than from a space perspective, where those concerns arose.
There may be issues sometimes with whether or not one gets the
sufficient speed because the network is overloaded. But I do not
think getting to first base, ie you cannot unbundle this loop
because there is not the capacity to do so, should be a difficultly.
I do not follow that argument myself.
Chairman: Thank you very much indeed,
you have been very patient with us. It would help the Committee
if, having studied the record, you felt that it would be helpful
to us to submit a very brief description of comparison between
France Telecom and British Telecom in terms of the functional
separation of wholesale and retail. I think it would be helpful
to us when we come to write our report. Thank you very much.
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