The Government has been urged to sack a consultancy frequently used by BT over allegations of “serious conflicts of interest” in its work on rural broadband. Rival broadband operator TalkTalk told BDUK, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) unit responsible for hundreds of millions of pounds of subsidies for rural broadband upgrades, that the telecoms consultancy Analysys Mason’s role was “untenable”. In a letter seen by The Daily Telegraph, TalkTalk claimed Analysys Mason’s work for government broadband officials risked a “perception that BT is being favoured due to holding influence over BDUK’s advisers”. The letter to BDUK chief executive Chris Townsend, copied to the communications minister Matt Hancock, said TalkTalk sought reassurance that Analysys Mason had Government approval to also work for BT on related issues and that effective Chinese walls were in place. It added: “This reassurance has not been forthcoming.” TalkTalk highlighted Analysys Mason’s role in BDUK efforts to exempt the next phase of rural broadband subsidies from EU state aid rules. It claimed that BT, which has received almost all the available taxpayer funding to date, was likely to benefit from the move.
TalkTalk has written to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (BDUK) calling for consultancy BT (AM) to be removed from work for government broadband officials. Citing conflicts of interest, AM's role was referred to as "untenable", with BT claiming it "is likely as a matter of course to give less weight to our views than to the views of its client BT." AM's report for BDUK "may be influenced by its desire to secure more commercial work from TalkTalk , said the letter. A report from the consultancy claimed any new ultrafast broadband was "highly unlikely" to succeed, effectively supporting TalkTalk 's campaign to prevent the splitting out of BT .