Ofcom has ordered Openreach to withdraw one of its proposed wholesale fibre discounts after concluding the offer could harm the development of network competition in the UK.
The regulator has blocked Openreach’s Incremental New to Openreach Customer Offer, saying the charges were not fair and reasonable under the regulatory framework established by its Telecoms Access Review 2026-31.
Openreach notified Ofcom of a series of new commercial offers covering Fibre to the Premises and Ethernet services in June and July. Ofcom consulted on its provisional findings in July before publishing its final decision today (Monday)
The regulator said Openreach could proceed with its other notified offers, which it concluded did not raise competition concerns.
James Lowther, Managing Director for Commercial at Openreach, said the ruling was in line with Ofcom’s consultation position.
“We put this offer forward in good faith to help our customers compete and deliver better value for households,” he said.
“While we continue to believe the offer would have benefited customers and competition, we’ll review the decision carefully and continue to engage constructively with Ofcom and our customers.”
Lowther confirmed Openreach would proceed with its other commercial offers, including an FTTP offer covering the Virgin Media O2 footprint and an Ethernet offer aimed at business customers.
“We’ll continue to invest in the UK’s digital infrastructure, bringing growth in every postcode and helping our customers deliver for homes and businesses,” he added.
A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “Although we believe the regulator could have gone further, we welcome Ofcom’s move to clip Openreach’s wings on its most aggressive offer and looking ahead it’s crucial the dominant incumbent’s behaviour is fully kept in check as meaningful wholesale competition emerges.
“More broadly, these repeated tactics show why consolidation in a fragmented, unstable fibre landscape is needed so that the sustainable, scaled challenge Openreach clearly fears fully materialises, leading to better outcomes for providers and consumers – that’s why approval of nexfibre’s acquisition of Netomnia is a crucial moment for the UK’s fibre future.
Alternative network operator nexfibre welcomed Ofcom’s intervention but argued that the regulator should have gone further.
“Ofcom’s decision today is a positive step towards protecting competition in the UK fibre market, although we would have liked to see the regulator go further,” the company said.
It criticised what it described as Openreach’s practice of introducing repeated price changes through special offers and argued that alternative networks still needed sufficient incentives to invest and build scale.
“Ensuring alternative networks have the incentives to invest, grow and achieve scale will be critical to creating credible, sustainable competition,” nexfibre said.
The company linked the ruling to its proposed acquisition of Netomnia, saying the transaction would create a stronger challenger capable of increasing competition, investment and consumer choice.
