§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the number of telephone connections cut off by British Telecom each year since privatisation; and if he will make a statement. [606]
§ Mr. Ian Taylor[holding answer 20 November 1995]: That is a matter for BT. However, following a request from the Director General of Telecommunications, monthly figures for BT disconnections covering the period July 1994 to September 1995 have been placed in the Oftel library. These show average total disconnections of around 64,000 per month, and average net disconnections of around 26,000 per month—the net average excludes cases where customers were rapidly 78W re-connected after payment of bills. Responsibility for the provision of universal telecoms service falls to the Director General of Telecommunications, who has taken a close interest in all telecoms operators' policies towards disconnection. He is working to develop more innovative approaches to affordable and equitable access to telecommunications, where outright disconnection of service would form a last resort used only in cases of wilful fraud.