For Argyll

Argyll’s Isle of Jura has had no broadband connection for almost a week. The fault is proving difficult to trace and BT’s so-called Customer Services have pronounced that the problem lies with individual homes and is not a matter for their engineers.

Surely the fact that all the houses are experiencing simultaneous down-connections indicates that the fault is a general one. It defies logic that every household on the island would suddenly experience a different individual fault at the same time.

The preparedness to see an entire and remote island without its lifeline broadband connection is typical of the company. For Argyll has expressed concerns on many occasions that neither governments nor people in the UK have updated their historical perception of BT as a nationalised company. This leaves it with an unearned commercial advantage, in pole position for public contracts that might well be better served by rival companies and as the ‘authority’ in nationwide service development which is far from nationwide.

BT engineers are highly capable people but the company betrays them too in its lack of ay recognisable concept of ‘Customer Service’ - as this irresponsible response to the predicament on Jura demonstrates.

Moreover, as For Argyll has evidenced and included in its submission to the Scottish Broadcasting Commission, BT is singlehandedly responsible for the UK’s faiure to grasp the potential of the internet at the earliest opportunity.

Back in the days of a dial-up sevice, BT maintained call charges for a very long time. This frightened potential users into staying away from using the internet, seeing themselves faced with unanticipated and even uncontrollable bills from a company not famed for customer care.

The result was a very low take-up in internet subscriptions for a number of years. In consequence, the UK has not established the industry lead it might otherwise have done.

The truth of the situation is that BT is a hard-nosed commercial company in the private sector - as it needs to be - but it retains the old hotline to government and the public sector and an unchallenged position as a preferred supplier. All of this should be re-examined in the public interest, as those now silenced on Jura will surely agree.