A new range of measures have come into force to help the country to stay digitally connected during the coronavirus and in the future.
Ofcom, the regulatory authority for telecommunications, has announced new commitments to help broadband consumers during this difficult time. These include:
- Working with customers who are finding it difficult to pay their bill to ensure they are treated fairly and supported appropriately.
- Removing all data allowance caps on all current fixed broadband services.
- Ensuring that vulnerable customers receive alternative methods of communication if priority repairs to fix landlines and broadband cannot be carried out.
- Offering new generous mobile and landline packages to ensure people are connected such as free calls or data boosts.
These commitments, effective immediately, will be delivered by the major internet service and mobile providers, namely BT/EE, Openreach, Virgin Media, Sky, TalkTalk, O2, Vodafone, Three, Hyperoptic, Gigaclear, and KCOM.
Universal Service Obligation
From the 20th March, households also now have a legal right to request a decent, affordable broadband connection from BT under the new Universal Service Obligation (USO).
This means that households in the Borders who currently receive less than 10mb/s connection will be able to legally request better broadband. This is around 9.5% of premises in the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency that covers most of the Scottish Borders.
Borderers can check if they are eligible for an upgrade at www.bt.com/uso or by calling BT direct on 0800 783 0223. Those eligible may be able to use a 4G Hub or will have work done up to £3,400 free of charge to install a fixed line connection.
John Lamont MP commented: “Many people who are now working from home or have been furloughed will be very aware of the problems of a poor internet connection. A lot of us will be utilising the internet for shopping and streaming more than usual as a result of the guidance to stay at home.
“I appreciate the work from Ofcom on rolling out these new measures to ensure people can remain connected during this pandemic. I know that a number of households will be struggling with bills at the moment and I will be pushing telecoms companies to ensure they are treating these people fairly.
“The Universal Service Obligation will also be good news to a lot of Borderers. Almost 1 in 10 households here can benefit from this scheme. In a rural area like ours, digital connectivity is key. This is truer now than ever before.”
