Openreach UK Launch Rental Discount on up to 1Gbps EAD Ethernet Tiers UPDATE

Network operator Openreach (BT) has notified UK internet providers (ISPs) about the looming launch of a new special offer on their Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) lines for speeds of 1Gbps or below. The deal will apply a rental discount of 10% on the current one-year term rental prices with no CPI price rises for a full 36 or 60 months in return for signing up to a new 36 or 60-month term.

Competition in the business connectivity market for high-speed Ethernet is growing, not only from rival networks but also from the attraction of cheaper – albeit more consumer grade – Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) lines and alternatives like EoFTTP. But Ethernet’s ability to deliver a private uncontended circuit with better Service Level Agreements (SLA) still has plenty of merit, and the new offer may help to make EAD look a bit more attractive.

At the time of writing, Openreach doesn’t yet appear to have published a public briefing on the new promotion, although their related pricing data has been updated. This notes that the new offer is applicable to EAD circuits at speeds of up to 1000Mbps in the business access market (CLA, HNR, Area 2 or Area 3) that have been held for 3 or more years (i.e. trying to keep existing users loyal).

However, the new offer does emerge during a period where Openreach has recently been the subject of a few competitive complaints by rivals for some of their FTTP discounts (here), although it’s unclear if the new Ethernet promotion will attract similar gripes from the business connectivity side of the market. But ISPreview has already noted a few grumbles from within the industry about it.

UPDATE 2:14pm

The public briefing for this is now also available (here).