AUTHOR: Richard Cadman

ABSTRACT: A “reference offer” for Local Loop Unbundling was first published in the UK in December 2000, but by the end of 2005 just 2% of competitive copper access lines used LLU, compared with 56% in France. In 2005 Ofcom, introduced policy changes to commercialise LLU, which has increased to around 70% of competitive copper access lines. This paper measures the impact of Ofcom’s policy changes and concludes that these policy changes induced both the innovation and diffusion of LLU. The paper concludes that it is insufficient for regulators simply to mandate access: they must also ensure commercially attractive, non-discriminatory terms.

CITATION: Cadman, R. (2012) 'Invention, Innovation and Diffusion of Local Loop Unbundling in the UK', CCP Working Paper 12-8