§ Mr. David ShawTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what assessment he has made of the impact of the current pricing policy for ISDN lines in the United 209W Kingdom on the development of the information super-highways; [594]
(2) if he will discuss with the Director General Telecommunications the current price levels of ISDN lines and the impact that such price levels are having on the development of the information super-highways. [589]
(3) if he will examine the current prices for ISDN lines in the United Kingdom and in other countries; and what assessment he has made of the impact current price levels are having on the United Kingdom's international competitive position. [590]
§ Mr. Ian TaylorThe pricing of ISDN services and the extent to which they are available are matters for the commercial judgment of service providers. However, both my Department and the Office of Telecommunications are aware of some concerns about the level of relative prices of ISDN services in the UK compared to other countries. In some countries which have cheaper prices than the UK, the markets are not liberalised, so it is impossible to assess whether the prices charged reflect the true cost of providing the service. However, Oftel is considering the inclusion of ISDN services in BT's price cap when it is next reviewed.
The introduction of effective niche competition will also bring prices down. The Government's policy of licensing alternative infrastructure such as radio fixed access systems should contribute to this. Operating at 10 GHz, these systems could provide an alternative ISDN service to that offered by BT and some cable providers.
The provision of telecoms products and services makes a large direct contribution to national competitiveness. Liberalisation has also brought reductions in overall charges and the rapid development of advanced services and facilities, including ISDN, which boost competitiveness across all sectors.
Use of the information super-highway is increasing rapidly, with the commercial sector making the largest contribution to that rate of growth. ISDN capacity at 64,000 bit is an important technology for the development of the information society, but is only one of the technological developments whose availability has encouraged greater exploitation of the Internet.