BT in protest at price cuts

BT has said it disagrees with price cuts ordered by the telecoms regulator yesterday. Ofcom said BT should cut the price it charges rivals to use a broadband line by about 4.5 per cent to increase competition.

The watchdog said the price of a fully unbundled line to a property, where a communications provider takes over the line to provide broadband and telephone services, would drop to £87.41 from £91.50. A line used just for broadband would fall from £14.70 to £11.90. But BT said it had to be able to earn a fair rate of return to roll out high-speed networks across the UK. Consumers will see little effect from the price cuts.