Home » UK ISP News Archive » Article Tag: Openreach (2772 Posts)

Articles for Category Tag - Openreach

September 3, 2022, Doha, Qatar. FIFA World Cup and official Adidas Al Rihla ball on the green lawn of the stadium by 123rf

BT and Openreach Prep UK Network Protections for 2026 FIFA World Cup

14th May, 2026 (4 Comments)

The FIFA World Cup 2026 is getting closer and as part of that Openreach and BT have announced a “UK wide network service protection period” for their national broadband services, which will be in place from 11th June to 19th July 2026. The measures are designed to help mitigate an expected increase in network demand and to avoid changes that may disrupt match viewing.

London Big Ben Over Thames by MJackson - IMG20250111113401

2026 Kings Speech – New UK Cyber Security Laws and Broadband Rights for Leaseholders

13th May, 2026 (4 Comments)

The State Opening of Parliament – often referred to as the “King’s Speech” – took place today, which once again saw the new UK Government set out their agenda for the coming session. The speech included mentions of several bills related to telecoms network security and broadband connectivity, which we’ve summarised a bit below.

Vodafone Top 1.83 Million UK Broadband Users as Mobile Falls to 28.35M

12th May, 2026 (3 Comments)

Broadband and mobile operator Vodafone (VodafoneThree) has just published their latest Q4 FY26 financial results. The figures show that they now have 1.832 million fixed broadband customers (up by 64,000 in Q4 – the same figure as Q3) and a combined mobile base of 28.356 million (down by 263,000).

Openreach 2025 Engineers looking at tablet

Gov Detail First Public Funding to Boost Gigabit Broadband for Urban UK Areas

11th May, 2026 (0 Comments)

The UK Government has this morning confirmed that their recent modification to Openreach’s (BT) Call Off 5 contract for Essex and North East England (here) will be the “first Project Gigabit contract to target pockets of poor connectivity in towns and cities“, as well as the countryside. Over 9,500 extra premises in Essex “burdened with older broadband” will benefit from the £8.3m expansion (public subsidy).

Openreach-engineer-working-on-exchange-rack

Openreach List 238 More UK Areas for Copper to Full Fibre Switch – Tranche 24

11th May, 2026 (20 Comments)

Openreach (BT) has today published a huge batch of 238 exchanges (Tranche 24) – covering 1.69 million premises – under their “FTTP Priority Exchange” stop sell programme, which reflects areas where over 75% of premises are able to get full fibre lines and will thus stop selling copper based legacy phone and broadband products (i.e. FTTP becomes the only product option, where it’s available).

openreach-engineers-on-a-rural-countryside-lane

Openreach Expand FTTP Builds for Three Project Gigabit UK Broadband Contracts UPDATE2

8th May, 2026 (2 Comments)

The UK government has posted contract modifications for three of Openreach’s Project Gigabit contracts – Call Off 1 (Lancashire, West Berkshire, Staffordshire, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire), Call Off 5 (Essex and North East England) and Call Off 3 (North Herefordshire, North Wales, Shropshire and South West Wales). The move expands their planned deployments of full fibre broadband ISP networks into rural areas.

Analogue-uk-phone-handset-on-red-background 123rf

Openreach Offers Free PSTN Migrations for Voice Only UK Phone Lines

8th May, 2026 (7 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today moved to help facilitate the closure of the old analogue phone network (PSTN/WLR) in favour of digital (IP-based) alternatives, which they’ve done by making it free for broadband and phone providers to migrate WLR Solus (i.e. voice-only lines) to MPF (fully unbundled) or SOTAP (data-only copper broadband for areas without fibre) lines.

Broadband ISP Aquiss Offer 6 Months Half Price on Openreach and CityFibre Plans

6th May, 2026 (0 Comments)

Shropshire-based independent ISP Aquiss has announced the return of its popular 6-month half-price promotion on selected full fibre broadband packages via the Openreach and CityFibre networks. But the promotion will only be available for new customers to take until 30th June 2026.

Three Copper Broadband Cable Thieves in Birmingham Jailed for 3 Years

2nd May, 2026 (7 Comments)

At the start of 2026 we reported on how West Midlands Police had arrested a gang of three men who were in the process of trying to steal Openreach’s (BT) copper UK broadband and phone cables – worth £50k – from an underground site in central Birmingham (here). Yesterday the Birmingham Crown Court jailed each one for 3 years.

engineer in manhole openreach uk fttp 2020

Openreach Near-net FTTP Trial to Reach UK Businesses Outside Build Plan UPDATE

1st May, 2026 (5 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach has announced the launch of an interesting new “Near-net” trial, which sounds like a different approach to their old FTTP on Demand (FTTPoD / FoD) broadband product. The trial aims to confirm the feasibility of building full fibre broadband to business footprint which is currently outside of build plans on a reactive basis.

Biannual April 2026 Progress Update on BT’s 10Mbps UK Broadband USO

29th April, 2026 (12 Comments)

Internet provider BT has today published the biannual (April 2026) progress update on their delivery of Ofcom’s somewhat limited 10Mbps Universal Service Obligation (USO) for broadband. The provider has so far helped to build a USO connection to over 9,089 premises (up from 8,553 in Oct 2025) – using FTTP, with 461 further builds in-progress (up sharply from 186).

Godshill Locals Frustrated After Removal from Gigabit Broadband Contract UPDATE

28th April, 2026 (1 Comment)

The Godshill Parish Council (GPC) in the New Forest National Park of Hampshire (England) has revealed that UK ISP Wessex Internet has “taken the decision to cancel the planned build” of a new gigabit-capable broadband network in the rural area, although there’s some confusion over the reason for this move.

Openreach Pilot Emergency UK Phone Lines for 2027 Analogue Switch-Off

27th April, 2026 (18 Comments)

Network access provider Openreach (BT) has today begun to inform UK broadband and phone providers about a new pilot called Emergency Voice Access (EVAc), which is intended to be a basic voice-only fallback service for copper lines (WLR) that fail to be migrated in time for the switch-off of analogue phone (PSTN / WLR) services.

BT Wholesale Set to Launch 1.8Gbps UK FTTP Broadband Later in 2026

27th April, 2026 (43 Comments)

Nearly two years have now passed since Openreach launched their current fastest consumer Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband tiers – 1.2Gbps and 1.8Gbps – into the UK market (here) and yet BT’s own wholesale division still has yet to offer the same speeds to ISPs. But ISPreview understand that this may change later in 2026.

BT Preparing to Launch Smart Hub 3 Broadband Router for UK Consumers UPDATE

24th April, 2026 (45 Comments)

Customers of BT’s residential home broadband ISP packages recently spotted that the provider’s MyBT App had begun including a new advert at the top of its home screen, which promoted a new Smart Hub 3 (SH3) router as “coming soon” and offering “Better WiFi for your home, ready for the future“. But the move has already created some confusion.

Water-leak-from-burst-pipe-UK-by-123rf-ID217538249

Botched Openreach Broadband Install Floods Pensioner’s Kent Home

17th April, 2026 (21 Comments)

Network operator Openreach (BT) has said it’s “very sorry for the distress” after one of its engineers accidentally drilled through a water pipe during the installation of a new broadband service, which flooded the house of a 93-year-old pensioner (Dylis Forsyth) in Kent (England). Ms Forsyth ended up slipping on the wet carpet the next day and badly injuring her hand.

Openreach Director Trevor Linney Wins FTTH Europe 2026 Individual Award

16th April, 2026 (0 Comments)

The Network Technology Director at UK broadband access provider Openreach (BT), Trevor Linney, has been named the winner of the FTTH Europe 2026 Individual Award, which is said to be in recognition of his “remarkable efforts in championing the advancement of FTTH technology in Europe“.