{"id":22147,"date":"2021-03-18T07:53:40","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T07:53:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=22147"},"modified":"2021-03-19T16:36:07","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T16:36:07","slug":"ofcom-unveils-2021-changes-to-boost-uk-full-fibre-broadband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/03\/ofcom-unveils-2021-changes-to-boost-uk-full-fibre-broadband.html","title":{"rendered":"Ofcom Unveils 2021 Changes to Boost UK Full Fibre Broadband UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ofcom<\/a> has today published the outcome of their Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review 2021-26 (FTMR), which sets out how various changes (Dark Fibre Access, copper retirement, regulation that varies by geographic area etc.) will be used to boost UK investment in “full fibre<\/em>” broadband and high capacity Ethernet services.<\/p>\n

The FTMR is rather different from past reviews because it is the first one to combine both the Business Connectivity Market Review<\/strong> (i.e. leased lines and Dark Fibre etc.) and the more residential focused Wholesale Local Access Market Review<\/strong> into a single holistic review of both markets, which also covers a much wider 5-year period (from April 2021 to 2026) than the usual 3-years.<\/p>\n

NOTE: <\/strong>The adoption of a 5-year review (April 2021 until March 2026) gives operators more certainty over future regulation, which is useful when planning future investment.<\/div>\n

At present around 19% of UK homes and businesses can access a Fibre-to-the-Premises<\/strong> (FTTP<\/a>) based broadband ISP network, rising to over 37% for all gigabit-capable (1Gbps+) services (here)<\/a>. On top of that the UK Government has an ambition to ensure that at least 85% of premises can access a “gigabit-capable<\/em>” connection by the end of 2025 – supported by a \u00a35bn investment for the hardest to reach areas (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

A significant number of operators are already heavily involved in this work. Openreach<\/a> (BT<\/a>) is the largest and plans to cover 4.5 million premises with FTTP<\/a> by March 2021 and then 20 million by around 2025-30. Some 2 million premises under Virgin Media<\/a>’s expansion are also expected to get FTTP<\/a>, although their entire network (c.16m premises) will be 1Gbps+ capable by the end of 2021 thanks to the DOCSIS<\/a> 3.1 upgrade (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

On top of that we have significant contributions planned by Cityfibre<\/a> (1m premises by the end of 2021 and almost 8m after 2025), Hyperoptic<\/a> (2m by the end of 2021 and an aspiration for 5m by 2024) and a mass of other alternative network (altnet) operators with big deployments (Summary of Full Fibre Build Plans<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Currently most of the aforementioned build is in commercial urban areas, where we’d expect to see a fair bit of overbuild between operators.<\/div>\n

What’s Going to Change?
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Suffice to say that Ofcom<\/a>’s review is laser focused on helping to lay the groundwork for the further expansion of “full fibre<\/em>” networks across the United Kingdom, which it hopes to achieve by removing some remaining roadblocks to investment and supporting competition between networks.<\/p>\n

Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom<\/a> Chief Executive, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Over the past year, being connected has never mattered more. But millions of homes are still using the copper lines that were first laid over 100 years ago. Now it\u2019s time to ramp up the rollout of better broadband across the UK. We\u2019re playing our part \u2013 setting the right conditions for companies to step up and invest in the country\u2019s full-fibre future. This is a once-in-a-century chance to help make the UK a world-leading digital economy.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We should add that this review started before the COVID-19<\/strong> crisis, but in any case that won’t have much of an impact upon future regulation from 2021 onwards. Otherwise, the full review is positively massive, and so we’ve opted to try and simplify the key changes below.<\/p>\n

Simplified Summary of Key FTMR Changes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Regulation that varies by geography.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ofcom plans to regulate Openreach<\/a>’s broadband products by looking at the level of current or prospective competition in a given area – divided into three categories:<\/p>\n

Area 1 – Competitive Areas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Areas, such as dense urban locations where there are at least 2 existing networks + BT<\/a> (OR), will not see much regulation of Openreach<\/a>’s products (i.e. rules will be removed to encourage investment and innovation). Oddly Ofcom still hasn’t identified any such areas at this stage but they do “expect to do so in the future<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Area 2 – Potentially Competitive Areas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Areas, such as locations where 1 or more existing alternative ultrafast networks are already present or where 1 or more operators have a plan to deploy (and Ofcom considers the future rollout could be economic), will continue to see Openreach being required to provide wholesale access to its network. This reflects about 70% of the UK.<\/p>\n

Ofcom will also maintain flat, inflation-adjusted, regulated prices for Openreach’s entry-level 40Mbps (10Mbps upload) superfast broadband service. Ofcom also accepts that the FTTP version of this will be a little bit more expensive (\u00a31.70 per month) than the equivalent FTTC<\/a> one due to the higher speeds and quality from full fibre lines.<\/p>\n

But Ofcom won’t regulate the prices of Openreach’s higher-speed services and will place restrictions on discounts (more on this later).<\/p>\n

Area 3 – Non-Competitive Areas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Areas, such as rural locations where Openreach is the only operator providing a large-scale network (i.e. no rivals or plans by rivals) – reflecting about 30% of the UK, will see regulation designed to support investment by allowing OR to recover its costs to build a new fibre network from a wider range of services (similar to a “regulated asset base<\/em>” model approach), such as copper line services, which could reduce the risk of its investment.<\/p>\n

“If Openreach provides a firm commitment to lay fibre in these parts of the country, we can include the cost of this deployment in its prices from the outset. If not, its prices would only increase after fibre has been built<\/em>.” BT<\/a> has since added a commercial commitment to build FTTP to 3.2 million rural UK premises and Ofcom has thus carried this change forward (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Ofcom will also require Openreach to provide Dark Fibre in these areas to support mobile and other network growth, but we’ll talk about that below.<\/p>\n

2. Restrictions on Discounts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Openreach will continue to be prohibited from offering geographic discounts on its superfast broadband wholesale services and Ofcom have decided to extend this to full fibre. It is also required to give at least 90 days\u2019 notice of the introduction of certain commercial terms (such as volume discounts) that might prevent retail ISPs from using competingnetworks, so stifling investment. This allows Ofcom to assess those deals before they take effect.<\/p>\n

3. Dark Fibre Access (DFA).
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ofcom failed to introduce a full DFA product in 2016\/17 (here<\/a>), which would have given rival ISPs physical access to install their own equipment at either end of the fibre within Openreach’s cable ducts. But this was blocked by the courts due to the regulator’s incorrect market definitions (they essentially proposed DFA in some areas where Dark Fibre rivals already existed, which angered those operators).<\/p>\n

Instead, the regulator only succeeded in getting the operator to introduce a Dark Fibre X<\/strong> product (here<\/a>), which merely catered for the inter-exchange connectivity market (i.e. the connections between BT exchanges in different geographic areas – like between towns and cities).<\/p>\n

However, Ofcom’s new geographic based approach to regulation means they can give this another go. In short, as well as the existing DFX product (re-imposed by today’s review), the regulator will also introduce a requirement on Openreach to provide access to DFA <\/strong>for the supply of leased line \/ Ethernet access (LL Access) in Area 3 (i.e. non-competitive areas).<\/p>\n

4. Regulating leased lines like residential broadband.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In keeping with no.3, Ofcom will also vary their approach to regulating high capacity business leased lines geographically in order to reflect the level of current or prospective competition (this is similar to how they will handle the residential market).<\/p>\n

5. New Quality of Service (QoS) standards for Openreach.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At every review Ofcom places tougher minimum quality of service levels on Openreach’s consumer broadband and separate leased line products, which governs key criteria such as how quickly they must provision or repair a service. However, while there have been improvements, this time around the regulator has softened some of their expectations for 2020\/21 due to the impact of COVID-19<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"ofcom_wftmr_quality_of_service_targets_openreach\"<\/p>\n

6. Retiring legacy copper networks.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ofcom recognises that Openreach needs to retire its ageing copper wires so that it does not have the unnecessary costs of running two parallel networks. As part of their plan the regulator will remove regulation on Openreach\u2019s copper products (ADSL<\/a>, FTTC<\/a> etc.) in areas where full fibre (FTTP) is built, which should support Openreach in switching customers over to the new fibre network.<\/p>\n

The regulator will also protect customers during this transition, by transferring their regulation – including price protections – from copper to new fibre services. Trials of this approach and related changes are already being conducted in Mildenhall (Suffolk) and Salisbury (Wiltshire) – here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the retirement of copper will only commence once the majority of an exchange area (75%) is covered by new ultrafast fibre services and it will then take several years to migrate consumers, which must be repeated across the whole of the UK (it wouldn’t surprise us if this process takes well over a decade to fully remove copper). Moving consumers will not be easy, particularly due to differences in technology (phones will need to connect via VoIP) and higher prices.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Broadly speaking Ofcom, in urban areas, will be setting Openreach’s wholesale prices in a way that it hopes will encourage competition from new networks, as well as trying to boost investment by the company itself (i.e. giving them an opportunity to make a fair return). At the same time, they will aim to ensure that people can still access affordable broadband by capping Openreach’s wholesale charges on its slower copper broadband services.<\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

As usual the regulator has the incredibly difficult job of trying to balance many competing (vested) interests between different operators and inevitably there will always be winners and losers. Openreach will probably be comfortable with the changes, albeit displeased at having to introduce DFA again and the new restriction on discounts.<\/p>\n

On the flip side TalkTalk<\/a>, as well as Sky Broadband<\/a>, may feel unhappy about the move away from cost-based charge controls<\/strong> on copper broadband and phone services. All three have invested a fair bit in unbundling Openreach’s copper lines over the years, which has helped them to stay aggressive competitive on price and service.<\/p>\n

The issue above is that the move away from cost-based charge controls in some areas, when combined with Openreach’s ability to spread the cost of investment in fibre across a wider group of consumers (e.g. allowing them to recover some investment costs from both copper and fibre products), may result in bigger price increases at the wholesale level and that could ultimately get passed on to consumers (no ISP wants to do that and last year TalkTalk<\/a> hinted at a legal challenge<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Ofcom remains adamant that Openreach deserves the chance to make a “fair return<\/em>,” particularly given the huge private investment they’re intending to make (BT’s plan to invest \u00a312bn into their FTTP rollout is partly based on Ofcom’s direction in this review).<\/p>\n

However, some of Openreach’s rivals, such as Cityfibre<\/a>, may be displeased to see that Ofcom and the Government have opted not to take a tougher line against urban overbuild of their own plans. In fairness, it would be legally and politically difficult to tell any operator that they’re not allowed to build a rival full fibre network in commercial urban areas, which by nature are aggressively competitive environments.<\/p>\n

Equally, overbuild means that consumers benefit from having several networks to choose from and the Government’s FTIR report noted that dense urban areas should be able to support three or more gigabit-capable rivals. On the other hand, having multiple operators dig up the same streets over-and-over is ugly and overbuild can make life much harder for smaller players. Finding a balance here is difficult and a lot like herding cats (example<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Other Issues and Changes<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

On top of today’s review, the regulator also has a separate project that aims to make it easier to switch between full fibre ISPs (here<\/a>) and to improve phone number ports. At present switching between FTTP ISPs can still be difficult (particularly if you’re moving to a physically separate network platform) and likewise porting phone numbers to VoIP remains a tedious process with many providers (here<\/a>), but improving that will help altnets.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some key issues fall outside the regulator’s FTMR remit, such as the endless debate around whether the government will extend the current 5-year holiday on business rates for new fibre. The relief began in 2017 and will be running out soon but, despite Scotland opting for a 10-year relief, Westminster has yet to take a clear stance on extension. Likewise, efforts to further simplify wayleaves (legal land\/property access agreements) form part of ongoing work elsewhere (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Finally, some people did recently question how long it might be before Ofcom imposes cost-based prices on fibre (much like they do when regulating Openreach’s copper services today), although the regulator said in December 2020 that it couldn’t see this happening “until at least 2031<\/em>” (here<\/a>) – the market may be very different by then (i.e. such rules may hit more than just Openreach, with Virgin Media<\/a> potentially being in the frame).<\/p>\n

BT would have obviously preferred a 20-year period, but today Ofcom have stuck to at least 10-years, albeit with a caveat. Ofcom added, “Beyond 2031, if competition and investment are still in the process of emerging, we would expect to continue to regulate in a way that supports the continued development of competition and investment. Finally, if there is a need to move to cost-based regulation in the future, we will honour the fair bet principle.<\/em><\/p>\n

“In setting controls, we would expect to allow BT to keep the upside (i.e. returns in excess of its cost of capital it has earned up to that point), as well as ensuring it can earn its cost of capital going forwards. This means that BT would have the opportunity to earn a return above its cost of capital over the whole fibre investment cycle.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

We should conclude by pointing out that KCOM<\/a>’s network in Hull isn’t covered by today’s report and that will follow a little later.<\/p>\n

Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review 2021-26 (FTMR)<\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/www.ofcom.org.uk\/..\/2021-26-wholesale-fixed-telecoms-market-review<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPDATE 7:53am<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first comments are arriving, so we’ll just add them underneath.<\/p>\n

Greg Mesch, CEO at CityFibre<\/a>, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“This regulation will promote and protect the infrastructure competition that is enabling Britain to go full speed ahead for Full Fibre. Ofcom\u2019s Market Review is the culmination of its strategy, using competition to drive Full Fibre investment and nationwide coverage.<\/p>\n

It will inspire confidence and unleash a decade of innovation and investment from competitors like CityFibre, rebalancing market share away from incumbents and driving better services and prices for wholesale customers and consumers.<\/p>\n

Competition has already driven huge progress with Full Fibre rollouts underway to millions of UK homes and businesses. As the nation\u2019s largest independent Full Fibre platform, CityFibre is already committed to bringing our networks to a third of the UK market.<\/p>\n

With Ofcom setting out a comprehensive framework for at least the next five years, we can now go both further and faster, playing our part to deliver the Full Fibre networks that will underpin the UK\u2019s economy and society for generations to come.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

BT has also confirmed their plan to bring FTTP to 20 million premises, which by this point isn’t a big surprise.<\/p>\n

Clive Selley, CEO of Openreach, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve now passed almost 4.5 million premises and are building faster, at lower cost and higher quality than anyone else in the UK. Today\u2019s regulation will allow us to ramp up to 3 million premises per year providing vital next generation connectivity for homes and business right across the UK”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPDATE 8:15am<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now it’s Virgin Media<\/a>’s turn and they’ve praised Ofcom.<\/p>\n

Lutz Sch\u00fcler, CEO of Virgin Media, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“This is a resounding sign of support and longer-term clarity from Ofcom for those rolling up their sleeves to build the nation\u2019s next-generation digital infrastructure.<\/p>\n

As Britain looks towards bouncing back, it\u2019s vital that the right environment exists to get more pounds pouring into the country \u2013 unlocking investment is crucial to turning broadband ambition into action.<\/p>\n

Ofcom\u2019s focus is in the right place, and we urge the regulator to maintain this trajectory so that more of the country can benefit from competing gigabit networks that deliver long-lasting economic, societal and environmental benefits.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPDATE 10:41am<\/strong><\/p>\n

More comments..<\/p>\n

Gareth Williams, CEO of Gigaclear<\/a>, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We welcome the publication of OFCOM\u2019s Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review. Whilst we will need time to review the document in its entirety, we\u2019re glad to see that OFCOM has aligned charge controls across areas 2 and 3, which supports investment in rural fibre operators. We were also pleased to see that OFCOM has listened to industry concerns regarding the operation of the Dark Fibre Interexchange (DFX) remedy. We will take the time to fully assess the details of today\u2019s proposals and will continue to engage with OFCOM and Government regarding the implementation of the measures set out.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Paul Stobart, CEO of Zen Internet<\/a>, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The 2020s is undoubtedly going to be the decade of full fibre. Ofcom\u2019s decision to regulate the pricing for further roll outs in the UK, in line with previous guidelines, is something that we welcome at Zen. The benefits of full fibre are undeniable for the UK and make regulations such as this increasingly important for enabling and supporting the likes of Openreach to be able to invest in its infrastructure at pace. In particular, this will help connect the people that need it, especially those in rural areas that are at risk of being left behind.<\/p>\n

As well as this, Ofcom\u2019s decision to enable increased access to Openreach\u2019s telegraph poles and underground cable ducts for alternative providers is a positive step for consumers. In order for the UK to truly ensure everyone has access to choice, value and quality when it comes to connectivity, the industry needs increased competition and investment. This is something alternate providers like CityFibre will undoubtedly supply.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oliver Dowden MP, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Our strategy for the rapid rollout of gigabit broadband is working, with coverage increasing from 10% in 2019 to nearly 40% today. Stable, long term regulation is crucial to this. We welcome the regulations Ofcom have announced today, which strike the right balance between encouraging commercial investment and protecting consumers.<\/p>\n

“Tomorrow we will build on this by publishing Project Gigabit, our plan to drive the rapid rollout of gigabit broadband across the whole of the UK, including the first places to benefit from our \u00a35bn investment in hard to reach areas.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPDATE 12:13pm<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’ve been waiting for TalkTalk<\/a> to give their response, and it’s finally dropped. As expected, they’re unhappy with the potential for higher prices on copper broadband services. The proposals, they claim, will see retail prices increase by \u00a31.8bn and BT Wholesale revenues increase by \u00a31.2bn compared to the current cost-based system.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, they point out that consumers won\u2019t see the benefit of full fibre for years to come, “leaving them stranded on a lower quality product while paying mor<\/em>e.”<\/p>\n

A TalkTalk spokesperson said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Ofcom\u2019s proposals mean blanket price increases for consumers nationwide and yet full fibre won\u2019t be available for the majority for many years to come.<\/p>\n

This approach is at odds with Ofcom\u2019s principal duty to further the interests of consumers and promote competition.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

TalkTalk states that the price of Ethernet connections will also rise, “leading to higher-volume users also seeing price rises … this will mean users such as schools and hospitals will see thousands of pounds added to their annual bills<\/em>.” Of course, in some area\u2019s competition may mitigate this and the rules will vary by area.<\/p>\n

“With an estimated 1,250 hospitals across the UK, this means that combined they will spend an extra ten million pounds on broadband because of these proposals over the next five years<\/em>,” claimed the ISP while playing into the climate of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The difficulty here is that, like it or not, copper is on its way out and if Openreach were forced to retain all of their legacy infrastructure then prices would probably still have to increase in order to cover the continued operation of both networks side-by-side.<\/p>\n

UPDATE 19th March 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another comment, this time with an interesting point to make about the cost of access to Openreach’s ducts and poles.<\/p>\n

Graeme Oxby, CEO of CommunityFibre<\/a>, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Alternative networks have already raised nearly \u00a38bn to invest in the UK’s full fibre network so that we can provide consumers a different choice from BT Openreach. I’m glad that OFCOM recognises the criticality of access to Openreach’s ducts and poles which allows operators like Community Fibre to deploy its 100% full fibre network without disrupting our communities by digging up roads and streets.<\/p>\n

We were surprised to see the regulated prices for these services going up over time, contrary to OFCOM’s consultation document last January and we will have to do some more work to understand OFCOM’s rationale for this change.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UPDATE 19th March 2021 @ 4:31pm<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Independent Networks Cooperative Association (INCA) fears as if the concerns of smaller alternative network providers have been overlooked in Ofcom’s review, although they fail to clarify what changes were needed to address that.<\/p>\n

INCA CEO, Malcolm Corbett, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“While government recognises the importance of the competitive market, Ofcom seems fixated only on incentivising BT to invest, dismissing the majority of altnets as bit players, recognising few of their concerns in the market review statement. If operators and their investors believe that the regulator is not willing to listen to their concerns and act on them it risks delaying deployment and undermining the government targets, particularly in more challenging rural areas.<\/p>\n

Under plans to cover the hardest to reach areas, government fully expects a range of \u2018altnets\u2019 to bid for contracts in the BDUK programme, alongside BT Openreach and increasingly substantial independent players like CityFibre. On the other hand, Ofcom, whilst recognising \u2018that smaller altnets play an important role in providing fibre to rural areas\u2019 serving \u2018rural communities at a time when Openreach has not been willing to extend its network,\u2019 does not view the same altnets as capable of providing significant competition to BT – in the same hard to reach areas.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ofcom has today published the outcome of their Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review 2021-26 (FTMR), which sets out how various changes (Dark Fibre Access, copper retirement, regulation that varies by geographic area etc.) will be used to boost UK investment in “full fibre” broadband and high capacity Ethernet services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1645],"tags":[406,474,471,52,65,56,36,69,38,1997,537],"class_list":["post-22147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk_isp_news","category-key_uk_isp_industry_developments","tag-5g","tag-bt","tag-bduk","tag-fibre-optic","tag-ftth","tag-fttp","tag-ofcom-regulation","tag-bt-openreach","tag-politics","tag-uk-gigabit-programme","tag-uso"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"yoast_head":"\nOfcom Unveils 2021 Changes to Boost UK Full Fibre Broadband UPDATE - 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