The CLA, which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses, has called on Ofcom not to act to separate national broadband network Openreach from BT.
The organisation has said that separating the two at this stage of broadband roll-out would be a distraction and divert attention and resources away from programmes to deliver broadband to more homes and communities in rural areas.
CLA President Henry Robinson said: “Having poor or nonexistent broadband is a catastrophe for rural businesses.
“There are big frustrations and shortcomings in Openreach’s performance to date and we expect Government to be more demanding. However we want BT to be focused on delivering more connections at a faster pace, not distracted fighting legal battles over whether their company should or should not be legally broken up.
“Rural businesses do not care how they get fast reliable broadband; they just need it as soon as possible. Every day that passes without broadband is another day of being held back from achieving their potential.”
BT chief executive Gavin Patterson has hit back at rivals who want the former national monopoly broken up, taking to the stage on Tuesday with pledges to improve broadband for British homeowners.
Mr Patterson focused on what he said BT would deliver in the next five years. It has promised a universal minimum broadband speed of 5-10 megabits a second, subject to regulatory support, to extend its superfast and ultrafast fibre networks and to improve network repairs and installations.
But while he was on stage launching BT’s investment pledges, Ofcom published figures showing that broadband attracted the most complaints in the telecoms and media sector. BT, while improving, still attracted more complaints than average from broadband customers unable to get faster line services, or frustrated at delays in line installations or repairs.
