Ofcom Change Openreach’s UK Full Fibre Threshold for Copper Retirement

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today decided to change the threshold at which Openreach (BT) can begin to alter the wholesale prices of copper connections once full fibre (FTTP) broadband lines have become available. In short, the operator will now reach this stage in exchange areas where ultrafast broadband (300Mbps+) is available to 90% of premises, rather than 100%.

The current approach to copper line retirement (i.e. the removal of copper lines/services in favour of fibre optic lines), which has been largely retained by Ofcom for the 2026 to 2031 period as part of their recent Telecoms Access Review 2026 (TAR), is based around two key thresholds. The thresholds reflect the point at which Openreach can stop selling new copper lines and the point at which Ofcom’s price controls are removed from copper-based services.

The Two Copper Retirement Thresholds (Current)

• First Threshold:
Openreach can stop selling new copper lines once it has reached 75% FTTP coverage in an exchange area and has provided 12 months’ notice of its intention to stop selling copper.

• Second Threshold:
Openreach is no longer subject to price controls on copper services once (a) it has reached 100% coverage in an exchange area; (b) 24 months have passed since stop sell was introduced; and (c) Openreach has provided 12 months’ notice of its intention to raise prices above the charge controls.

However, Ofcom and a number of alternative broadband networks (altnets) recently clashed after the regulator first proposed to change this (here), with Ofcom desiring to tweak the second threshold by setting a fixed percentage approach to excluding premises; this would be set at 10% of premises in an exchange area (i.e. Openreach would only need to reach 90% coverage, rather than 100%) and would apply from 1st April 2029.

The change is designed to reflect the reality that, in some exchange areas, it may be practically impossible to reach a 100% FTTP build due to a very small number of exceptional premises (e.g. apartment blocks that refuse access, difficulties obtaining wayleaves for certain locations, premises like certain farms that may exist too far away from the road, areas already covered by rival full fibre networks etc.).

The conflict occurred because most altnets and ISPs preferred a different Defined Exclusions Approach (DEA) to the aforementioned Fixed Percentage Approach (FPA). The DEA would define the specific circumstances under which premises could be excluded when assessing whether the second threshold is met (e.g. excluded premises might be those Openreach couldn’t reach or couldn’t afford to reach and those covered by rival networks).

The altnets were largely concerned that taking the FPA approach could place them at a disadvantage, as they may not be ready to compete for copper customers at the point of pricing deregulation, while the DEA method was perceived as reducing the risks to altnets’ ability to win migrating customers. A few other operators also argued that certain premises served by altnets should be treated as exclusions, so as to avoid incentivising Openreach to overbuild their networks.

Ofcom actually agreed that DEA was more “attractive in theory“, but they feared implementation would result in “practical difficulties” due to its complexities and hence appeared to prefer the FPA method for simplicity. In the end the regulator appears to have maintained their FPA proposal. We should point out that Openreach also favoured DEA, so this isn’t the usual altnets vs Openreach situation.

Ofcom’s Decision

A fixed percentage approach to excluding premises, set at 10% of premises in an exchange area.

We have decided to allow Openreach to exclude a fixed percentage of premises from the second threshold coverage requirement, and to set that fixed percentage at 10% of premises in an exchange area. This means that, subject to all other criteria for the second threshold also being met, Openreach would be able to reach the coverage requirement of the second threshold when it reaches 90% ultrafast coverage in an exchange area.

Introduce a date from which these exclusions can be applied.

We have decided that these exclusions can be applied from 1 April 2029 onwards. Prior to this date, Openreach would be unable to exclude premises from the 100% ultrafast coverage required to meet the second threshold.

All of this is necessary because trying to maintain both copper and fibre infrastructure at the same time would quickly become costly and inefficient for Openreach, particularly once most of their old copper line customers have been shifted to full fibre lines. “Retiring the copper network would free up resources that could instead be used to invest in network improvements or deliver lower prices over time,” said Ofcom’s statement. Not to mention the greater performance and service reliability of fibre infrastructure.

However, it should be noted that customers on the Openreach network will “always remain protected” by a charge control. If full fibre is not available at a premises, the existing cap on the price of a copper-based service will remain in place. If the copper price cap is lifted, a charge control will apply to full-fibre connections.

“We expect broadband providers to support customers in finding a new deal for a better service. Evidence shows that people can switch to a full-fibre service and pay the same, or less, than they do for a connection that uses copper“, said Ofcom.

The regulator currently plans to “consider the conditions for further deregulation of copper services” before their next market review period (2031-36). “Our current thinking is that full deregulation of copper-based services could start to take effect from 2031,” concluded the regulator. As we’ve said before, completely removing copper lines and services is going to be a slow multi-year process.