In the first instance of the UK’s communications regulator stepping in to block a commercial offer from the UK’s leading broadband provider, Ofcom has opened a consultation on its provisional views on a set of commercial offers that Openreach intends to introduce, due to concerns that certain “aggressively” discounted pricing options are “not fair and reasonable”, and could harm competition in the UK’s broadband sector.
In June 2026, Openreach notified Ofcom of its intention to roll out a range of offers, specifically the Incremental New to Openreach Offer, Geographic Incremental New to Openreach Offer and Frontbook ARPU Share Offer.
The former is designed to give internet service providers (ISPs) a monthly discount for bringing new full-fibre customers onto Openreach’s network. It applies only to new customers above an ISP’s normal number of new sign-ups. The discount could be up to £9.50 per customer for up to 30 months.
The geographic offer is aimed at areas where rival Virgin Media operates, and will provide a one-off £50 discount on new full-fibre customers to Openreach, above the usual number of an ISP’s new sign-ups. Independent broadband providers (altnets) also have significant presence in some of the areas covered by this offer.
Lastly, the Frontbook ARPU Share Offer is intended to cap what an ISP pays on average for new high-speed connections at £19.32 per month. In practice, it would make getting people onto higher-speed packages more commercially attractive to ISPs. Alongside these three, Openreach also plans other offers, including specifically for high-capacity business connections.
And as part of its core function, Ofcom issued a Call for Inputs in June 2026, to review the offers and identify any competition concerns that could constitute grounds for regulatory intervention.
In its provisional view of the Openreach offers, Ofcom said it was directing the broadband provider to intervene to withdraw its Incremental New to Openreach Offer, noting that under the offer, Openreach is targeting significant discounts at new customers that are key to altnets’ ability to grow their customer base, while leaving prices for other customers unchanged.
Fair competition vital
Explaining its decision, the regulator said the offer comes at a time when, in most of the UK, competition in the wholesale market is still developing. And with around half of households that could access full-fibre broadband yet to sign up, it’s vital that different networks can compete for these customers fairly.
Ofcom added that it was concerned the offer could undermine sustainable competition. In particular, matching these discounts may not allow competitors to recover their costs, given the low prices they are already offering to all of their customers.
The regulator regards sustainable competition as fundamental because it means people having a choice between different networks, a choice it feels drives companies to compete for customers through affordable prices and higher-quality services. It stressed that without sustainable competition, over time, prices could rise, and firms competing to deliver affordable, ever-better broadband helps underpin economic growth.
After examining the other offers planned by Openreach, Ofcom’s provisional view was that they did not raise competition issues that warranted regulatory intervention. Primarily, this is because the effective discounts they contain are much less substantial and would be unlikely to prevent other reasonably efficient networks from competing with Openreach.
“Openreach must be able to compete, but they cannot use their significant market power to drive other networks out of the market,” said Natalie Black, Ofcom’s group director for infrastructure and connectivity, commenting on the decision. “In reaching our final decisions on their planned offers, we will prioritise promoting sustainable competition, which is fundamental to keeping prices low in the long term and bringing better broadband to people across the UK.”
Ofcom said that it welcomed responses to its consultation from interested parties by 27 August 2026. It expects to make a final decision by the end of September.
Not surprisingly, Openreach was indignant about the decision, which it said protected rivals’ “poor” business models.
“We’re disappointed that Ofcom has expressed concerns about one of our four offers, which we put forward in good faith at a time when many households are watching every bill,” said Openreach managing director for commercial James Lowther. “In such a competitive market, we don’t believe that regulation should protect poor business models and we disagree with Ofcom’s analysis. We’ll continue to engage constructively via the consultation to help our customers compete.”
Also not surprisingly, Openreach’s rivals hailed the decision, and indicated their intention to oppress Ofcom further as part of the consultation. Rajiv Datta, CEO of Nexfibre, welcomed what he said was Ofcom’s proposal to block “the most egregious” of BT Openreach’s proposed offers – but stressed that it did not go far enough.
“The regulator should also consider the cumulative effect of the steady drip-feed of other offers, which form part of a wider playbook to prevent the emergence of scaled wholesale competition and entrench BT Openreach’s dominant position,” he said. “We will make these points in our response to the consultation.”
Paddy Paddison, chief executive of the Independent Networks Cooperative Association, called Ofcom’s decision an “important and timely intervention” and a “clear signal” that sustainable network competition must be protected at the point it is beginning to take hold.
However, he was still concerned that the wider package of Openreach offers needed to be considered carefully, including their combined effect on independent networks, non-BT Group ISPs and long-term consumer choice.
“This is not the end of the process,” said Paddison. “It is an important first step … The purpose of regulation in this market should be to support … transition from emerging competition to sustainable competition. Discounts that simply move customers from one fibre network to another do not extend coverage, connect the hardest-to-reach premises or help build the gigabit-capable Britain the country needs. Openreach must be able to compete, but it must not be able to use its significant market power in ways that weaken the very competition.”
