Ofcom Clear BT Superfast Broadband Discount for London and the North West

Ofcom has approved BTOpenreach’s request to extend a connection price discount for its superfast broadband (FTTC) lines by two months, which cut the one-off cost from £80 to just £30 +vat when taken alongside a new phone line (WLR or MPF). Sadly only ISP customers in certain parts of England (UK) will benefit.

The current Simultaneous Provide discount applies to all ISPs but is due to run out on 30th September 2012 and Openreach wanted to extend this for a further two months until 30th November 2012; such a change would normally require BT to give Ofcom not less 90 days’ written notice. Ofcom has today approved the request and cut its usual notification period to 40 days.

Ofcom Statement

“Openreach had advised us that the proposal to extend the price reductions earlier had already been presented to relevant industry stakeholders. Openreach also advised that it had received no objections to its proposed offer but rather support from those Communication Providers (CPs) who were currently considering increasing their consumption of FTTC wholesale lines, e.g. Sky Broadband.”

Unfortunately the extended discount period only applies to specific telephone exchanges, such as those in large areas of London and North West England (excluding Cumbria). The extended offer does NOT apply to ultrafast FTTP lines. Full details can be found in BT’s updated pricing document.

As usual the decision about whether or not to pass the savings on to end-users is entirely up to the ISPs.