Openreach Increases Wholesale Ethernet Prices for UK ISPs
Openreach (BT) has today announced large price increases across their various high-capacity Ethernet (EBD, EAD etc.) products and Excess Construction Charges (ECC) for UK ISPs, which are all due to be introduced from April 2023. The changes also help to position their 1Gb services as the new entry-level products.
Under Ofcom’s most recent Wholesale Fixed Telecom Market Review (WFTMR), as published in 2021 (here), Openreach is allowed to increase prices across their various Ethernet solutions by the CPI level of inflation (11.1% in this case). The changes being announced today, across their Ethernet products (including Optical mainlink), as well as some ECCs and Access Locate Accommodation charges, largely reflect this.
Openreach informs us that the increases have also been focussed on lower bandwidth products, which is partly to help position 1Gb services as the entry-level products. On top of that, they’ve also announced the renewal of two existing, as well as the launch of four new, special offers for EAD 1Gb and EAD 10Gb services to make these high bandwidth products more attractive.
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“These special offers include reduced connection pricing, the ability to spread connection charges over a three year period, and free remote upgrades to 1Gb from 10Mb or 100Mb,” said a spokesperson for Openreach. The price changes and offers themselves are too numerous to easily summarise, but you can find more details here, here, here and here.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Do you think this will be passed on? My LL is 3 year contracted will I have the right to leave if they try and increase? I am with a provider who used BTO for the install but neo for the line
Read the contract you signed, it’s going to be different with each reseller.
Business contracts are all about the contract only thing you really have protection from is unfair terms but you would have to prove this. It’s scary that you run a business and don’t know this as the other commenter said read you contract
James- most small businesses do not read contracts, and if they do they don’t tend to understand them in my experience. (no offence intended, haha)
Haha – I suspect you will be fine. Inflation proofing such contracts is very rare – or rather was before this current cost of living crisis. Thus existing contracts most likely won’t have a clause in them, whereas new ones might. However, best to take a look – just in case your supplier decides to try their luck anyway!
Thanks for the replies – The contract was simply the initial order form which i signed and it show nothing in there about price rises – However i was not sure if they would put one in mid term. Already £350 a month can’t really afford more and if it goes up I might have to think about ceasing trading and going insolvent but I hope the next 18 months is okay – it should be I have paid upfront for the first 24 months anyway
@haha Moral of the story, only sign documents when you can see and understand the full terms and conditions of what you are signing for.