Ofcom believes Openreach is retaining significant power in the market, and that the market is not at a point where it can remove regulation entirely. Indeed, it stressed that it was therefore maintaining rules around discounts and deals that could stifle investment and the development of sustainable competition.

Ofcom says that through its move, it is incentivising existing networks to invest while making it cheaper and easier for new entrants to the market to build using Openreach’s ducts and telegraph poles. As a result, Ofcom claims, the UK has seen one of the fastest rates of roll-out of full-fibre broadband in Europe, with industry investment ranging between £3bn and £6bn each year.

Among the market decisions it has made to support competition, Ofcom has mandated that Openreach’s competitors will continue to have access to its ducts and poles at “fair, cost-based” prices so they can deploy their own networks quickly and economically across the UK.

To protect quality of service in less densely populated parts of the UK, where Openreach is unlikely to face competition, Ofcom is introducing backstop standards around the speed and quality of repairs and installations for Openreach’s full-fibre services. Elsewhere, it expects competition to drive service quality.

In addition, to address concerns regarding affordability, Ofcom said it would cap the nominal price that Openreach can charge retail providers like Vodafone or Sky – who lease its infrastructure – for download speeds up to 80Mbps, rather than 40Mbps at present. The prices of higher-speed products will remain unregulated, so providers have an incentive to invest in networks that can deliver faster speeds.

And as part of its general transitioning to full-fibre networks and gradually shutting down old telephone exchanges, Ofcom said Openreach should not have to incur unnecessary costs for running two networks at the same time. It said it would progressively shift regulation away from copper services to full-fibre services, giving Openreach flexibility to encourage customers to migrate off its old copper network. Alongside its TAR plans, Ofcom said it would be consulting on the specific conditions for when price protections on copper-based services should be removed.

Ofcom’s decisions are set to take effect from 1 April 2026, and the regulator assured that if sustainable competition was still emerging in 2031, when its next review was due to take place, it expects to regulate in a way that supports it.

It also stressed that should it need to set price controls on Openreach in the future, it would have the opportunity to earn a return above the cost of its investment over time. Alternatively, it noted that if effective competition has emerged by the time of the next review, there would be no need to regulate beyond access to ducts and poles.

Commenting on the review’s need and aims, Ofcom’s group director for infrastructure and connectivity, Natalie Black, said: “Today marks a major milestone on the road to a better-connected, more productive Britain. Five years ago, we put in place new rules to drive competition between networks and get them building full-fibre broadband, which now reaches nearly eight in 10 homes and offices across the country.

“But our mission isn’t yet complete, and we’re creating the right conditions for the fibre roll-out in its final phase,” she said. “Our review of the rules has been an extensive and complex undertaking given the nature of the market, and we appreciate the considered engagement from the sector.”

Before the TAR was published, there was a worry in the UK’s broadband industry that it would be a charter to maintain Openreach’s market dominance. Yet broad response to the TAR has been balanced and positive across the board.

Mark Shurmer, managing director for regulation at Openreach, said: “No one is going further or faster than us to build the UK’s best network(s). Our investments help customers – and the country – do brilliant things, but they only happen when the environment is stable and supportive. That’s why Ofcom’s review is critical to the future of digital connectivity across the UK. We’ll continue to work with Ofcom to make sure the regulation set today will allow fair competition within that market to get the best results for consumers. This market is evolving rapidly and, with competition more intense than ever, it’s really important that regulation keeps pace with that change.”