BT's a Drag
from the the-net-is-like-oxygen dept
Surprise! Consumers in the UK still don't have unmetered access. Of course, the local monopoly, BT, has agreed with Oftel (a telecoms regulator) that it is going to try to roll out a more suitable unmetered pricing structure (which they promised to have rolled out initially at least a year ago). I suspect BT will continue to delay its rollout dates because it makes economic sense for them (they keep making large amounts of money on metered access and Oftel isn't about to fine them for the delays). This has been, and will probably continue to be, one of the main reasons why the UK (and the rest of Europe) lags the US in so many aspects of the new economy.
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Metered, Schmetered
Yeah, but at least you have cooler wireless services than us and will have GPRS stuff before the US. Stop whining about wired internet access and start thinking about wireless net access ;-)
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Lagging?
Europe lagging in aspects of the new economy? What
would those be? Insane VC deals? Failing dotcoms? e-commerce sites that dont/cant/wont deliver?
We've got those thank you. If you mean that the telephone system works using a different model then that is ceratinly true, but I wouldn't exactly define that as lagging.
And the point about wireless made in another reply is spot on.
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Re: Lagging?
Yes, Europe is leading in terms of wireless technology but it isn't anywhere near to delivering on its promises (I live in london) and the WAP market is one of the industries dirty little secrets (so few people actually use it).
It is a real problem! Europe is lagging in internet adoption, ecommerce and even venture capital investment. It is a fact. However, there are some great companies (autonomy being one of my favourites). European telco's really need to be smacked for their general bad behaviour by blocking unmetered access they are the ones that have led to this lag (lag does not mean non-involvement in the new economy).
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