BT IS vigorously resisting a move aimed at making it easier for Britain’s ten million broadband households to switch providers.

The former monopoly says that a proposal from Ofcom for wholesale broadband providers to supply the code that consumers need to switch their supplier would cost too much. In its response to the regulator, published yesterday, BT also says that the measure would undermine existing consumer protection measures, leaving consumers more vulnerable to “mis-selling.”

Such a plan, it says, would also be unfeasible from a “contractual and legal perspective” and would be “disproportionate” to the problem that it is trying to solve.

Ofcom began consultations in the summer on measures to smooth the process of changing broadband providers. It put forward the proposals after receiving thousands of complaints from consumers who said that they had experienced problems switching providers.

Ofcom said in its paper that it wanted to make mandatory a requirement for broadband retailers to provide a migration authorisation code (MAC) to customers who want to move to another provider.

At present, broadband retailers supply MACs to users under a voluntary scheme, giving Ofcom limited scope to punish providers when they do not comply. While that arrangement is wholly backed by BT, Ofcom also mooted the idea that wholesale providers of broadband — such as BT — or another third party could provide the code to consumers.

In its response to Ofcom, BT says that while it is aware of the “frustration” of customers who cannot obtain a MAC code when they want to switch supplier, it should not be the role of a wholesale broadband provider to supply it to the end-user, with whom they have no relationship. The wholesale provider, it says, would not be able to verify the identity of the end-user or determine whether the MAC had already been requested from the retail provider and refused — and if there had been a legitimate reason for doing so.

The consumer, it says, could be left more vulnerable, as the measure could lead to an increase in mis-selling.

It is also likely, BT argues, that the costs and processes required for such a scheme would prove to be prohibitive. It advises Ofcom that the move to make the current MAC process compulsory should be put in place, then reviewed after six months to see if further action is needed.

A spokesman for Ofcom said that it was just “asking the question” about the provision of MAC codes by wholesale providers and seeing how it could work.

The broadband problems

Broadband companies will not provide consumers with broadband because of a problem in the system known as a “tag on line”

Ofcom’s plan

Get to the bottom of “tag on line” problems and propose a remedy

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