Fewer than 1,000 of British Telecom's local exchanges will be opened to rivals by July next year despite government assurances of "widespread availability" of competition by that date, it emerged yesterday.
The number represents only 17% of BT's exchanges and appears to conflict markedly with comments made by e-commerce minister Patricia Hewitt last week.
Officials also admitted that the number of "problem" exchanges where demand for space from rival suppliers exceeds the amount of space available could be 5-10% of sites.
Rivals to BT again expressed their anger at the pace of the roll-out of so-called "local loop unbundling". They claim it has given the former monopoly a head start in the deployment of DSL technology which can upgrade copper wires for broadband use such as high-speed internet access.
"We are pretty angry about BT's foot-dragging," said a senior executive of one rival company. "BT is simply using its dominant power to discriminate in favour of itself."
Oftel has identified the first 361 exchanges which will be opened up for competition but rivals will not be able to gain access to the first 60 until the beginning of February at the earliest. The following three tranches of 100 a time will be opened over intervals of several weeks.
Oftel aims to name a second group of exchanges at the beginning of December but officials admitted that the number which will be open by July would be numbered in "hundreds rather than thousands".
Oftel executives are also concerned that the opening of individual exchanges could be delayed by planning issues.
Last week Ms Hewitt threw her support behind Oftel and said there would be widespread alternatives to BT by the July deadline originally set by the regulator. The EU has ruled that the local loop - the last mile between the exchange and homes or businesses - should be open to competition by the start of next year.
Britain complied with that regulation, she maintained, because BT was ready to meet "reasonable requests" from companies applying to store equipment in its exchanges. A lot turns, rivals have complained, on the interpretation of what is reasonable.
Oftel officials insisted the number of exchanges that will be open by July was within the spirit of the statement made by Ms Hewitt.
The regulator yesterday issued a consultation document on how space will be allocated in more popular BT exchanges. Demand for space in some has come from up to 25 telecom suppliers - threatening to leave some disappointed.
At best, each supplier will have only 1,600 lines per exchange although that could be as few as 800 at more popular sites. The consultation document gives options for apportioning space including a lottery or auction but favours a complex method where each supplier has to place priorities on each of its applications.
• Infostrada falls to Enel
Italian power company Enel has clinched an €11bn (£6.6bn) purchase of Infostrada, Italy's second-biggest telecoms group, in a challenge to the market dominance of Telecom Italia.
Enel, Europe's largest listed utility, said it would pay British mobile phone company Vodafone half in cash and half in bonds for loss-making Infostrada and then fold the group into Wind, its joint venture with France Telecom.
Enel is hoping the booming telecoms market will help it offset an expected drop in power prices when competition bites by 2003.
"It's good for investors. It creates very strong competition for Telecom Italia," said one London-based analyst. "Infostrada was already pretty strong but lacked mobiles. This will give investors a real choice."
The deal to secure the number two spot in Europe's fourth-biggest telecoms market is pricey. It values Infostrada at about 11 times expected sales for 2000, compared to a sector average multiple of eight.
