It has been reported that Orange Broadband has effectively passed over control of its fixed line broadband ISP network to BT in the hope that the quality and reliability of the service offered to new and existing broadband customers will be improved. In effect this is a form of outsourcing which will allow Orange Broadband to concentrate on customer service and increasing customer numbers while transferring the technical side to BT.
Orange already has a close working relationship with British Telecom in other areas of its business, using the BT infrastructure to connect services to those outside of its 65% UK population coverage. We’re likely to see more and more outsourcing of network services as UK broadband companies, or at least those unwilling to invest enormous amounts of money in the long term, look to concentrate on customer numbers and customer service.
In an official press statement Orange Broadband has blamed a lack of investment in the UK telephone infrastructure as a reason for the transfer of this particular side of the business to BT. Whether this will change in the short to medium term with introduction of the UK’s superfast broadband network remains to be seen.