With election fever mounting service provider Channel Telecom has unveiled its own manifesto which calls upon the Government to rethink its approach to the telecoms sector.
The document calls on Westminster to stamp down on telecoms fraud, improve the UK connectivity infrastructure by ensuring a more competitive market and widen Ofcom's regulatory powers. The statement was unveiled at an exclusive event held in the Churchill Rooms at the Houses of Parliament last month where the special guests were Secretary of State for Media Sajid Javid and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Eleanor Laing.
Channel's Head of Partners Steve Yates urged the Government to take telecoms fraud seriously and help businesses financially devastated by the crime which cost the industry upwards of £1.3 billion in 2014. "Fraud is something Channel Telecom takes very seriously," said Yates. "Often companies hit by fraud are left to foot the bill for thousands or tens of thousands of pounds. This can put small organisations out of business. We could remove the profit on fraudulent call charges, but then we are asking the carriers to do the same and as a supplier we don't know what our carrier's true costs are.
"We can provide our partners with billing and other services that highlight to us when fraud is in progress, and also use our carriers to extend that even further. But we cannot totally prevent it from happening. We are suggesting that the Government establishes a fraud repayment plan for all businesses affected, enabling them to repay over a period of time interest free. This approach may help them stay afloat."
The manifesto also calls upon the Government to increase awareness of toll fraud, treat it with the same amount of energy as credit card fraud, set up a fraud prevention unit within the police and legislate to ensure fraudulent calls are charged at cost price, thereby stopping carriers from profiting from the misfortune of victims.
Channel Telecom should be applauded for also taking the Government to task on improving nationwide connectivity. Its manifesto calls for greater competition and legislation to encourage more sharing of infrastructure. "Our copper network now needs updating," said Yates. "Although our average connectivity speeds are improving, as a nation we are still well behind global leaders South Korea, Japan and Hong Kong. The Government voucher scheme is helping, but the rollout of services like FTTC and the reluctance to introduce it into main cities such as the centre of London is a hindrance for smaller businesses wanting to achieve high speed bandwidth at a reasonable cost. However, the BDUK vouchers are important and I advise all of our partners to get heavily involved."
In his address, Secretary of State Javid admitted that the telecoms industry has had to put up with Government inaction on telecoms for too long. "As the world accelerated down the digital highway, the authorities here in Britain stood on the hard shoulder and waited for the private sector to do all the hard work," he said. "For example, back in 2010 less than half of UK premises had access to superfast broadband and that simply wasn't good enough. It is a vital piece of infrastructure, just like roads, canals, railways or telegraph wires."
The minister applauded the enterprise of private companies in the telecoms sector for building the road to digitalisation, especially the roll out of 4G, and promised Channel Telecom's partner guests that any Government he was part of in the future would be 'committed to working with business leaders in driving forward Britain's economic recovery'.
The minister added: "Britain's telecom industry is a serious business, one that must be supported. Channel Telecom's own figures say that the sector is worth £38 billion to the economy and employs over half a million people. That is an incredible contribution. We have canvassed your views on our digital communications infrastructure strategy which I'll be publishing shortly. And that's why, for example, we will be consulting with industry on the electronic communications code so that it can be fit for the future."
Pictured above: Channel Telecom's Managing Director Clifford Norton (left) with Sajid Javid and Eleanor Laing