 2 Mbit/s was possibly selected with a view to encouraging the use of optical fibre to the site.Despite frequent challenges, particularly from the telecommunications industry and the dominant national carrier, which held a monopoly outside the urban areas, the RBCs managed to defend the 2 Mbit/s standard against much cheaper emerging ADSL alternatives.Some providers were describing offerings as low as 150 kbit/s as broadband and when the lower relative costs of these highly contended products were taken into account, e.g.