Editorial

Citation

Heap, J. (1999), "Editorial", Work Study, Vol. 48 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ws.1999.07948baa.001

Editorial

Occasionally, in this column I return to a subject that I have covered before ­ either because there have been some developments that are worthy of further analysis and comment, or ­ as in this case, because I am surprised at the lack of progress and change that has taken place. This time I refer to BT's pricing of its digital connectivity services. ISDN is now quite an old technology, yet its penetration outside of the still rather specialised world of videoconferencing has been unspectacular to say the least. Penetration of ISDN is much lower than in most other (Western) European countries. This is almost all down to BT's tariff and pricing policy. It is very difficult to justify the costs of implementing ISDN.

BT is now advertising its new "Highway" services ­ Business highway and Home highway ­ which offer a hybrid digital/analogue line, which can take a digital (ISDN) data call and an analogue (traditional telephone or fax) call at the same time. Since I access the Internet/WWW from home, I investigated the pricing and found, again, that the premium ­ over a standard, slow, analogue line ­ is excessive. So I have upgraded to a 56kps modem (for a single purchase payment) while waiting for a more acceptable price premium.

Few of the cable companies yet offer ISDN so there is little competition. If ­ or perhaps, when ­ they start to offer cable modems which can deliver bit rates significantly higher than ISDN, presumably BT will respond. We also know that BT is piloting xDSL services which operate as fixed connections at high bit rates ­ but again, at very high tariff rates.

Presumably, the view is that BT, as a commercial operator, has a right to price its services at a rate which it (and its shareholders) finds acceptable. However, the development of digital services is part of the national development programme ­ making UK Ltd more efficient by both increasing the skills of UK Ltd staff (all of us) and allowing more flexible working patterns and improved communications. BT as the "national carrier" inherited a monopoly service. In some areas, the regulator and straight commercial activity, have produced change. However, the inertia of most of the public to stay with the standard BT service is (luckily for BT) very high. The areas of change are those where such inertia does not exist ­ the areas of new services and products. In the mobile arena, for example, BT (in the form of CellNet) has strong competition.

It would be a shame if someone didn't prompt BT to remind them that if they priced their digital services more competitively, they might find that the increased takeup and traffic balanced the lower unit charging ­ and they would be helping to develop the kind of flexible, skilled workforce and working environment that the UK needs.

John Heap