Original article ISPreview UK:
A number of Openreach’s rivals are understood to have raised fresh competition concerns with Ofcom after the operator introduced a new discount on upgrades (here). The offer was designed to help encourage ISPs to shift customers off older copper-based broadband services and on to newer full fibre (FTTP) lines, but not everyone is happy.
The issue concerns proactive migrations, which arise where an internet provider (ISP) proposes to upgrade your older broadband service (ADSL, FTTC etc.) to FTTP and, at the same time, books an appointment for an engineer to carry out the upgrade. The end user can then confirm, reject or select a different appointment. This forms part of Openreach’s efforts to eventually retire their old copper-line based network, services and exchanges.
Last month Openreach introduced a new offer for ISPs using this process, which essentially enabled customers to potentially be upgraded to their faster “1000/115Mbps [download/upload], 550/75Mbps and 330/50Mb bandwidth tiers for the rental price of 80/20Mbps” – lasting for up to 24 months (details). Suffice to say that this was quite a significant discount and would make upgrading much more attractive to some consumers.
However, a number of alternative networks (altnets) have told ISPreview that they view the new promotion, which is due to become available between 10th October 2025 and 9th April 2026, as being potentially anti-competitive. The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), which represents many of the UK’s altnets, is similarly understood to have raised its concerns with Ofcom, although they’ve elected not to comment until the regulator responds.
A CityFibre spokesperson told ISPreview:
“We are aware of the recent Openreach FTTP offer on proactive upgrades. Given Ofcom’s clearly stated strategy in its TAR consultation to promote long-term, effective and sustainable competition, we would expect Ofcom to examine this offer carefully to identify whether it is consistent with that policy objective.”
A spokesperson for Ofcom said:
“Our overriding objective is to bring better broadband to people across the UK, by promoting competitive investment in high-speed networks and making sure there’s a level playing field for all companies. Attracting customers from legacy networks to full fibre is key to the success of all providers.
We impose certain restrictions on deals that could stifle investment and the development of sustainable competition. Subject to these restrictions, Openreach is allowed to compete with altnets and is allowed to make pricing offers, to make its full-fibre services attractive to its customers.”
Ofcom added that they do not pre-approve Openreach’s pricing or offers before they are notified to industry, although they do encourage any stakeholders who consider this promotion to be anticompetitive to “raise their concerns with us“. We should add that Openreach only gave the industry 28 days’ notice of this offer (not 90 days) because it is not conditional.
A spokesperson for Openreach added:
“Competition works when it delivers better outcomes for customers – and that’s exactly what we’re focused on.
As we lead the UK’s transition to Full Fibre, this offer is all about listening to our customers and helping them make that leap from older copper-based services to faster, more reliable broadband.
Of course, Ofcom keeps a close eye on everything we do, and rightly so – but we’re allowed to compete, and we’ll continue to do so, in the interest of customers and the country.
We strongly reject any suggestion that it’s anti-competitive.”
Some altnets originally enjoyed a market where Openreach’s Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) services were slower and much more expensive than their own, while also being less dominant in network coverage. But in recent years their wholesale pricing has fallen and speeds are improving (here). On top of that, they now cover 20 million premises with FTTP, which is due to reach 25m by December 2026 and then “up to” 30m by 2030 – placing them into a commanding position for coverage.
At the same time altnets have begun to struggle a lot more over the past 2-3 years, not least due to the rising cost of network build, high interest rates and strong competition (i.e. many have slowed or paused their deployments and cut jobs ahead of possible consolidation). Suffice to say that altnets carry a lot more risk today and are thus much more sensitive to any big price promotions that the incumbent may introduce, even ones like this that are quite targeted toward a specific but large group of users.
On the flip side, Openreach is heavily regulated and have been bleeding broadband lines to rivals, albeit mostly from locations where they’ve yet to build FTTP. But the incumbent often feels as if it shouldn’t be restricted from being able to compete with smaller rivals, especially in competitive areas, and often indicates that doing so may also be unfair to consumers who might otherwise benefit from lower pricing.
The regulator has the difficult task of trying to balance such concerns, while at the same time needing to recognise the importance of not obstructing the move away from legacy copper-line based services.
