Press & PR

The UK broadband market could be in for a period of upheaval following a recent European Commission ruling that looks to relax competition regulations in the market.

Ofcom introduced legislation to regulate the provision of wholesale broadband services, meaning that telecoms companies had fair access to existing network infrastructure and could provide its customers with a competitive service.

The legislation was implemented to stop companies like BT - which owns much of the UKs broadband network - monopolising the market.

However, a new ruling by the European Commission has paved the way for a relaxation of those rules on the grounds that the UK market is now competitive enough to prevent wholesale providers from dominating.

New rules would mean that BT could limit access to its broadband network, the Financial Times reports.

Ben Verwaayen, BT’s chief executive, said: “This is very welcome news from the European Commission."

Mr Verwaayen added that the move was a "step in the right direction", although others may not agree.

Vonage is allowing customers to make cheap calls at home and abroad using their broadband connection, with a number of flat tariffs available.