Ofcom has rejected calls to stop Openreach launching a new broadband deal, the communications regulators confirmed in an open letter published on Thursday. Openreach, owned by Britain’s largest broadband provider BT Group, is launching a discount scheme allowing internet service providers to upgrade customers to full fibre while paying the lower 80/20 Mbps rental rate from 10 October to April 2026.
The regulator’s decision comes as Britain battles to ramp up ultrafast broadband rollout as rival networks invest billions into fibre networks, intensifying price competition. A number of rival network providers raised concerns with Ofcom about Openreach’s special offer. The providers asked Ofcom to investigate the potential impact of the deal on competition in the market – and to prevent the offer coming into effect while it completes the probe.
Concerned rival networks complained that the price of the Openreach offer was below the cost of a ‘reasonably efficient operator’, and could have an ‘adverse impact on the development of sustainable network competition’. Some competing firms were concerned that the deal risked locking them out of the market before their networks were ready.
The rivals were also concerned about the limited duration of the Openreach offer ‘in combination with the price levels’, Ofcom said. On Thursday, telecom and media regulator Ofcom said it found no immediate competition concerns with Openreach’s special offer, which allows internet service providers to upgrade customers to high-speed fiber connections at discounted rates. ‘We do not at this point in time have prima facie concerns that would lead us to decide to investigate the offer in further detail,’ Ofcom said in a statement.
Ofcom said Openreach’s average fiber-to-the-premises price remained above its estimated cost range for an efficient operator even with the new offer factored in, and noted the discount applies only to a narrow segment of proactive customer migrations that internet providers initiate rather than customers request.
The regulator said it would use its formal information-gathering powers to monitor the offer’s impact on pricing and provider behaviour, and stood ready to intervene quickly if necessary while considering the evidence when setting rules for 2026 to 2031. Ofcom said it was still reviewing responses from its consultation and plans to publish final decisions in March 2026.
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