Openreach Unveil New non-BT Branding to Showcase its Independence

Earlier this year BT and Ofcom reached a voluntary ‘Strategic Review’ deal (here), which required BT’s network access division (Openreach) to become a “legally separate” company with its own independent board. Today Openreach has unveiled their new branding, which scrubs out BT.

The deal means that Openreach is still technically part of the BT Group, although they now have greater independence and have today reaffirmed their commitment to treating all communications provider (CPs) customers equally.

The new non-BT branding (pictured) forms part of the on-going process to implement the agreed changes. In keeping with that Openreach’s CEO, Clive Selley, has sent out a letter to all 580 of the operator’s Communications Provider customers (Vodafone, Sky Broadband, TalkTalk and BT etc.) to highlight what they’re doing.

Clive Selley’s “Openreach is changing” Letter to UK ISPs

At Openreach, our number one priority is providing a better service to our customers and to achieve that, we’re making fundamental changes to the way we work.

I’ve been keeping you up to date with how we are implementing our Commitments following Ofcom’s Digital Communications Review in March 2017. We’re showing you, our customers, that we’re becoming more independent – an Openreach that deals with everyone on equal terms.

We’re implementing as many of the Commitments as we can now, ahead of Ofcom’s requirements, because we believe it’s the right thing to do.

We want to get on with the job of delivering better service, broader coverage and faster speeds across Britain, so we’ve already established the new Openreach Board, with an independent Chairman and a majority of independent members, and they are now playing a very active role in steering the business and setting its strategy.

We’ve also begun changing the way we engage with you our Communications Provider customers by introducing a confidential phase to our discussions on significant investments and major strategic developments.

Today, we’re making a further small but symbolic step, by launching our own distinct brand.

We’re removing the ‘BT’ element from the Openreach logo. This is a visual sign to reflect how we deal with everyone on equal terms. We are committed to delivering the highest standards to everyone and we’re doing this well ahead of Ofcom’s timeframe as we feel the re-brand is an important step in building trust with you and our stakeholders.

The re-brand is also an opportunity to restate what Openreach stands for and how we want to work going forward. Openreach is all about our people and our network.

We want our brand to be consistent and recognisable so we’re keeping the distinctive typeface and name, as our research suggests it will mean our engineers continue to be recognised when they knock on your customers’ doors.

As you’ll see from the new imagery and About Openreach video this isn’t an expensive or extravagant re-brand. It’s a simple and pragmatic step which will allow us to continue to focus on our business.

From today and over the coming weeks, months and years, we’ll be introducing the new logo and imagery into our key touchpoints – everything from our websites, slides and documents, ID cards and workwear to the 22,000 vans in our fleet. We’re rolling it out over the next 1-4 years to reduce costs and minimise the impact to you and your customers.

Openreach aims to introduce the new logo and imagery across all of their key touchpoints – everything from their websites, slides and documents, ID cards and workwear to the 22,000 vans in their fleet (they have around 30,400 people – 25,000 of which are field engineers).

However, in an effort to reduce costs, the operator states that it will take them 1-4 years to complete the branding transition. In fairness this isn’t a surprise since the transition will be a mammoth task.

Estimated Timeline for Re-Branding Assets

· July 2017 – New logo; first tranche of vans; presentation and stationery templates

· Sept 2017 – The majority of Openreach websites and customer-facing mobile apps

· Early 2018 – First tranche of workwear (after consulting with our people)

· Around April 2018 – Openreach Limited established

· Around Oct 2019 – ID cards and workwear (we have 30,400 people of which 25,000 are field engineers)

· Around Apr 2020 – Major buildings and signs

· Around Apr 2021 – All 22,000 van logo changes will be complete