Openreach Offer Cancellation Amnesty for Old UK Ethernet Orders

Network access provider Openreach (BT) is to introduce an interesting new special offer for UK ISPs, which proposes to waive the cancellation charges for their high-capacity Ethernet Access Direct (EAD) and Dark Fibre (DFA/X) products, albeit only where related orders are now “over 100 days old” (excluding delays caused by customers themselves).

The connection charge for EAD products can typically be quite hefty, often costing several thousand pounds, although this can vary a lot depending upon the specific product chosen and the impact of certain special offers. This is relevant because those who need to cancel an EAD order often need to pay back a significant percentage of this charge.

However, situations can sometimes arise where EAD and DFA/X orders may take a lot longer to provision than normally expected, such as due to issues with engineering surveys, the need for unforeseen groundworks, the absence of key infrastructure or a requirement for third-party permissions that is not forthcoming in a timely fashion etc.

Interestingly, Openreach has now announced that they will launch an “aged order cancellation amnesty” for those that are now over 100 days old, such as where customers optionally decide they don’t want to wait any longer (i.e. the order is “unwanted“). This will run between 18th December 2025 and 30th January 2026, although “any ECC charges already incurred will still apply, ensuring fairness and preventing misuse“.

Openreach Briefing

Openreach will waive the cancellation charges (“Waived Cancellation Charges”) for any inflight Order for EAD, DFA, or DFX Service provision that are at least 100 Working Days old from the date on which the Order was Processed, excluding any customer delays (“Eligible Orders”) that are cancelled by the Communications Provider between 18 December 2025 and 30 January 2026 (“Special Offer period”).

Waived Cancellation Charges will:

b) be provided by way of a rebate made by Openreach in the next billing cycle following the cancellation of the Eligible Order;

c) not include any Excess Construction Charges (ECCs) associated with the Eligible Order that have already been incurred and which, for the avoidance of doubt, shall remain payable by the Communications Provider.

It’s worth remembering that late installs could also fall into conflict with some Service Level Agreements (SLA), which might attract demands for compensation.