Broadband maintenance 'could be affected if BT strike'

01/06/2010

The maintenance and problem resolution of broadband services at BT could be affected if strike action goes ahead, which could result in problems for business telecoms customers.

According to Edd Dawson, editor of broadband.co.uk, the running and troubleshooting of the company's internet services could be impacted upon if staff carry out industrial action.

Last week, the Communication Workers Union announced that delegates representing 60,000 BT staff had voted in favour of holding a strike ballot following a standoff over pay.

Mr Dawson said that a strike would affect day-to-day maintenance at the company.

However, he added that any industrial action would be unlikely to "hugely" affect BT's deployment of fibre broadband "unless the strike becomes prolonged".

"Otherwise it's probably only going to cause issues if problems occur during the strike that are unexpected."

Recently, BT announced its plans to invest another £1 billion, on top of the £1.5 billion already allocated, to extend the roll out of fibre broadband to around two-thirds of premises in the UK by 2015, this could improve business telecoms for many small companies.

Posted by Dan Morris