UK communications regulator Ofcom has extended by two months its work into reaching a final decision on whether it should sit on its hands and let BT broadband division Openreach from introducing new wholesale pricing arrangements for its full-fibre services.
Dubbed the Equinox 2 the move to adopt a new framework for wholesale pricing on Openreach’s network was announced on 4 December 2022. In February 2023, Ofcom said that after carefully assessing Openreach’s offer – taking into account the interests of consumers, as well as the impact on competition among rival retail broadband providers – its provisional view was that it should not should not take any regulatory action.
It considered the Equinox 2 offer as not anti-competitive and that it was consistent with the rules it had consulted on before introducing them under its full-fibre market review in 2021. Ofcom stressed that maintaining these rules for the period of the review was also important to achieving certainty for all companies looking to invest in broadband networks.
However, the preliminary decision was slammed by BT’s rivals. The Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA), the trade body for the UK’s independent network providers, said it was frustrated by Ofcom’s preliminary view, and that its own analysis of Equinox 2 found the scheme deliberately threatened competitiveness and would make it harder for new entrants to compete in the full-fibre market.
Now the regulator has decided that it should assess some of these issues properly, and gather and analyse some additional information, a process it acknowledged would not be possible before the end of March.
Ofcom stressed it remained fully committed to its strategy of network competition and ensuring a level playing field for all fibre investors as that competition plays out.
