Unbundled loop provision

Written on 4:15 PM by ooe

Provision of metallic pairs is carried out in three stages: the pre-order enquiry, deliver customer order and order acceptance. At the pre-order enquiry stage the operator is provided with information about the customer access line. The operator may wish to have a new metallic pair or to take over an existing one. The line information enables the LLU operator to decide if its service will work over the metallic pair to be provided. The operator may decide not to go ahead with the order if its service will not work because of the distance of the end-user from the exchange. If the operator decides to proceed, BT provides the pair as requested and the operator has two days to decide to accept or reject the pair. This period provides sufficient time to enable the operator to test its service.

The provision of the pair is usually quite straight forward. However, a number of issues need to be considered. The end-user is now a customer of the LLU operator and BT has to rely on the operator to make arrangements for access to their premises. Further complications are introduced if an order is combined with other products such as number portability, carrier pre-selection and/or calls and access.