Ofcom announces new rules to add fibre to UK broadband
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Editor
| 18 March 2021
In that could fuel further the currently strong market in the country, UK broadband regulator Ofcom has announced new guidelines for the UK wholesale telecoms markets that it says will drive competition and commercial investment in gigabit services and drive full-fibre uptake.
CityFibre Full Fibre Roll Out
With its new guidelines, the regulator says that the coronavirus pandemic has underlined the importance of a reliable internet connection but that the legacy copper network is no way fit for future purpose and that the UK’s infrastructure urgently needs an upgrade, especially as demand on networks continues to accelerate.

Following public consultation, the regulator has now revealed how it will regulate the wholesale telecoms markets used to deliver broadband and mobile connections in the UK, for the next five years and beyond.

The new regulations are intended to lead to properties in around 70% of the UK having a choice of networks after new wholesale price regulation designed to encourage investment and promote competition. After bringing down the price that BT’s broadband provision division Openreach charges ISPs - such as BT, Sky and TalkTalk - to use its infrastructure to deliver entry-level (40 Mbps) superfast copper broadband services, Ofcom is mandating that this price is kept flat in real terms, along with the prices of slower copper broadband packages.

Yet when it comes to new ultra-high-speed fibre services, Ofcom has now confirmed that these will continue to be free from pricing regulation. The rationale for this decision is that people can choose the entry-level service as an alternative. Moreover, Ofcom added that Openreach can also “charge a bit more” for regulated products that are delivered over full fibre instead of copper, because it regards full-fibre as consistently faster, and much more reliable.

Ofcom believes that such an approach will encourage investment by providing BT and its rivals with a margin to build the new fibre networks and that it will also help to make sure people can still access affordable broadband. Ofcom stressed that it aimed to allow all companies the opportunity to achieve a fair return over their whole investment period and that it did not expect to introduce cost-based prices for fibre services for at least ten years.

“Over the past year, being connected has never mattered more. But millions of homes are still using the copper lines that were first laid over 100 years ago. Now it’s time to ramp up the rollout of better broadband across the UK,” said Ofcom chief executive Melanie Dawes commenting on the new guidelines. “We’re playing our part – setting the right conditions for companies to step up and invest in the country’s full-fibre future. This is a once-in-a-century chance to help make the UK a world-leading digital economy.”