Editing Local-loop unbundling (section)

===United Kingdom===
{{See also|Internet in the United Kingdom#Unbundled local loop}}
{{Update|inaccurate=yes|date=September 2011}}

On 23 January 2001, [[Easynet]] became the first operator in the mainland UK to unbundle a local loop of copper wire from [[BT Group|British Telecom's]] network and provide its own broadband service with it.<ref>Richardson, Tim (24 January 2001). [https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/24/easynet_coughs_up_to_battersea/ "EasyNet coughs up to Battersea first"] ''The Register''. Retrieved 24 April 2023.</ref>

By 14 January 2006, 210,000 local loop connections had been unbundled from [[BT Group|BT]] operation under local loop unbundling. [[Ofcom]] had hoped that 1 million local loop connections would be unbundled by June 2006. However, as reported by ''The Register''<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/15/llu_openreach/ |title=UK LLU hits half million |first=Tim |last=Richardson |date=15 June 2006 |access-date=14 August 2022 |work=The Register}}</ref> on 15 June 2006, the figure had reached only 500,000, but was growing by 20,000 a week. In November 2006, Ofcom announced that 1,000,000 connections had been unbundled.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.offta.org.uk/updates/otaupdate20061107.htm |title=A Million Lines Unbundled in the UK |date=8 November 2006 |author=Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator |access-date=2016-02-05 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105755/http://www.offta.org.uk/updates/otaupdate20061107.htm |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> By April 2007, the figure was 2,000,000.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.offta.org.uk/charts.htm |title=Key Performance Indicators  |author=Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator |access-date=2007-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070423050243/http://offta.org.uk/charts.htm |archive-date=2007-04-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

By June 2006, AOL UK had unbundled 100,000 lines through its £120 million investment.<ref>{{cite report |author=Ofcom |title=The Communications Market: Broadband. Digital Progress Report |date=April 2, 2007 |url=https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/16185/broadband_rpt.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723135130/https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/16185/broadband_rpt.pdf |archive-date=2018-07-23 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Richardson|first=Tim|date=30 June 2006|title=AOL UK chalks up 100k LLU lines|url=https://www.theregister.com/2006/06/30/aol_llu/|website=[[The Register]]|language=en}}</ref>

On 10 October 2006, [[Carphone Warehouse]] announced its purchase of [[AOL]] UK, the leading LLU operator, for £370m.<ref>
{{cite press release
 |url          = http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1544859,00.html
 |title        = Carphone Warehouse to acquire Time Warner's AOL Internet access business in the UK for £370 million
 |publisher    = Time Warner
 |date         = 2006-10-11
 |access-date   = 2006-10-27
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20061104074157/http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1544859,00.html
 |archive-date = 2006-11-04
 |url-status     = live
}}</ref> This made Carphone Warehouse the third largest broadband provider and the largest LLU operator, with more than 150,000 LLU customers.<ref>
{{cite news
 |url          = http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/i/2842.html
 |title        = State of the nation - local loop unbundling
 |work         = thinkbroadband.com
 |date         = 2006-10-26
 |access-date   = 2006-10-28
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081006134345/http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/i/2842.html
 |archive-date = 2008-10-06
 |url-status     = live
}}
</ref>

On 8 May 2009, [[TalkTalk Group|TalkTalk]], which was owned by Carphone Warehouse, announced that they would purchase Tiscali UK's assets for £235 million. On 30 June 2009, Tiscali sold its UK subsidiary to Carphone Warehouse following regulatory approval from the European Union. This purchase made TalkTalk the largest home broadband supplier in the UK, with 4.25 million home broadband subscribers, compared to BT's 3.9 million. The service was rebranded as TalkTalk in January 2010.

Most LLU operators only unbundle the broadband service, leaving the traditional telephone service using BT's core equipment (with or without the provision of [[carrier preselect]]). When the traditional telephone service is also unbundled (full LLU), operators usually prohibit selected calls being made with the networks of other telephone providers (i.e. accessed using a three- to five-digit prefix beginning with '1'). These calls can usually still be made by using an 0800 or other non-geographic (NGN) access code.

Although regulators in the UK admitted that the market could become competitive over time, the purpose of mandatory local loop unbundling in the United Kingdom was to speed up the delivery of advanced services to consumers.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Jerry A. |last1=Hausman |first2=J. Gregory |last2=Sidak |title=Did Mandatory Unbundling Achieve Its Purpose? Empirical Evidence from Five Countries |volume=1 |issue=1 |journal=Journal of Competition Law and Economics |pages=173–245 |date=March 2005 |url=https://academic.oup.com/jcle/article-abstract/1/1/173/848962 |doi=10.1093/joclec/nhi005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=14 August 2022|hdl=1721.1/63450 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>