The UK's telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has passed a series of draft resolutions that will stimulate investment in, and development of, Britain's full fibre broadband networks.
The regulations will force BT to share its telegraph pole and underground tunnel infrastructure with rival providers – a move that will dramatically cut the upfront costs of laying fibre cables by 50 per cent, from £500 per house to £250.
As part of the agreement, BT's network subsidiary, Openreach, will have to repair faulty infrastructure and clear out tunnels to provide access as needed by its competitors.
“Full fibre meets the country’s future broadband needs, as demand for data soars… The measures we’ve set out today will support the growing number of companies who have already announced plans to build full-fibre networks, and open the way for even more ambitious investment around the UK,” said Jonathan Oxley, Ofcom’s competition group director.
Ofcom will also compel Openreach to release a digital map of its duct and pole network, making it far easier for its competitors to plan the best routes for laying fibre.
BT and Ofcom have come under fire in recent months for dragging their heels on rolling out fibre to the home (FTTH) networks. With the UK government looking to deliver around 10 million fibre connections by the mid-2020s, today's agreement is another shot across the bows for the UK's former incumbent.
As part of its commitment to providing superfast connectivity to Britain's rural and hard to reach communities, Ofcom has cut the wholesale price that Openreach can charge telecoms firms for its basic broadband service.
"Regulating this price will help BT’s rivals to compete for customers, while several build out their own full-fibre networks, as well as protect consumers from high prices during this period," Ofcom said in a statement to the press.
Britain's drive towards full fibre network coverage is gathering momentum. Despite a commitment to provide 3 million FTTH connections by 2020, there is a risk that Britain's largest fibre network operator could be left behind, as a surge of independent projects go live over the coming years.
Virgin Media is progressing towards delivering 2 million FTTH connections, while a recent deal between CityFibre and Vodafone will see as many as 5 million fibre connections go live by the mid 2020s. Even smaller scale operators are making huge investments, with Gigaclear set to reach 150,000 rural properties by 2020. Openreach will need to sharpen its focus on full fibre roll out, or risk seeing its market share decimated in the years to come.
Source: https://www.totaltele.com/499400/New-Ofcom-rules-could-cut-the-price-of-FTTH-by-up-to-50