pkh%computer-science.nottingham.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk (Kevin Hopkins) (09/18/89)
Another article from Computing dated 07.09.89. It seems British Railways are expanding their trackside telphone network, but unlike Sprint (Southern Pacific Railways?) they are not going to offer direct competition to British Telecom and Mercury for long distance calls but are going to lease out capacity on the line to various companies. Read on ... My comments in () BR TELECOMS PLAN HITS DOUBLE SNAG British Rail's (BR) plans to provide a national fibre-optic network for telecommunications will have to wait until the liberalisation of the British Telecom and Mercury duopoly. BR recently created the post of director of commercial telecommunications and appointed Peter Borer, formerly with Kingston Communications which is based in Hull. (In fact it isn't a telecommunications duopoly in the UK when it comes to providing public telephone networks. For historical reasons the council of Kingston-upon-Hull on the east coast, usually known as Hull, has provided its own telephone services within the city, and seems likely to do so for the forseeable future. This department of the council is now known as Kingston Communications. Not to be confused with Kingston-upon-Thames SW of London.) With some 2,000 km of fibre cable, BR has a network of similar size to Mercury. The company already leases capacity to Mercury and has future plans to exploit its communications infrastructure further. Current regulations to encourage competition and and protect British Telecom's position prevent BR from renting or selling its network directly, Borer said. "We are building our communications infrastructure to be ready for the duopoly review," he said. "We see our position as providing a national fibre optic grid as a minority partner, but BR is unlikely to become a public telephone operator." The Government's telecommunications policy stated a review of the British Telecom and Mercury duoploy would not take place before November 1990. "It is unlikely any new government policy will be made until the middle of 1991," Borer said. BR is expanding its fibre network by about 500 km a year at the moment and Borer predicts that its size will almost double in the next few years. +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+ | K.Hopkins%cs.nott.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk | Kevin Hopkins, | | or ..!mcvax!ukc!nott-cs!K.Hopkins | Department of Computer Science,| | or in the UK: K.Hopkins@uk.ac.nott.cs | University of Nottingham, | | CHAT-LINE: +44 602 484848 x 3815 | Nottingham, ENGLAND, NG7 2RD | +--------------------------------------------+--------------------------------+