According to Financial Times News, BT’s Openreach is threatening to scrap the final phase of its plan to bring full fibre broadband to 30 million UK homes by 2030. CEO Clive Selley says he’s putting approvals for the last 5 million homes on hold until Ofcom’s Telecoms Access Review is finalized in spring 2025. The company is currently on track to reach 25 million homes by 2026 but claims price controls in Ofcom’s draft proposal undermine the business case for expansion. Openreach argues that maintaining restrictions on what it can charge other providers to use its network makes the final phase economically unviable. This standoff could leave millions of households without access to full-fibre broadband by the 2030 target date.
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The regulatory showdown
Here’s the thing – this isn’t just about one company throwing a tantrum. We’re looking at a fundamental clash between competition policy and infrastructure investment. Ofcom wants to prevent Openreach from leveraging its dominant position, while Openreach says it needs pricing freedom to justify building in harder-to-reach areas. The regulator’s 2021 review actually worked pretty well for competition – it spawned all those “altnets” that now cover 16 million homes. But now Openreach is arguing that in areas where there are already two or more networks, the restrictions should be lifted. Basically, they’re saying “we’re not the only game in town anymore, so stop treating us like we are.”
The investment dilemma
Selley makes a compelling point about that final 5 million homes. The economics get progressively worse as you move from dense urban areas to more remote locations. We’re talking about the most expensive homes to connect, where the return on investment is already marginal. Add price controls into the mix, and suddenly the business case collapses. But here’s the rhetorical question: if Openreach won’t build to these harder areas, who will? The altnets are mostly focused on the profitable urban centers. So we might be looking at a situation where market competition delivers great service to cities while rural areas get left behind.
The bigger picture
This isn’t happening in a vacuum. BT’s CEO Allison Kirkby recently pointed out that UK telecoms pay ten times more in “government inflicted costs” than European peers. Business rates, energy levies – it all adds up. Selley is now warning that further tax rises in the upcoming Budget could undermine their ability to invest entirely. And let’s not forget that 20% of UK homes still lack full fibre coverage. That’s huge. So we’ve got a perfect storm of regulatory uncertainty, rising costs, and challenging economics for the final stretch of the rollout.
What happens now?
The ball is firmly in Ofcom’s court. They’re consulting on their proposals and will deliver the final ruling next spring. They claim their “pro-competition, pro-investment regulation” has made the UK one of Europe’s fastest fibre builders. But Openreach’s threat feels real – they’re not just posturing. If they follow through, the government’s ambitious connectivity targets could be in serious trouble. Meanwhile, competitors like Virgin Media O2 and CityFibre are arguing that Openreach still has significant market power and restrictions should stay. So we’re left with a classic infrastructure dilemma: how do you balance competition with the need to fund universal service? Nobody said building a digital Britain would be easy.
