Ofcom has published its annual monitoring report on the progress towards delivering a more independent Openreach.
In 2017, BT agreed to our requirements to reform Openreach and signed up to a series of Commitments. The changes meant Openreach becoming a legally separate company with its own board, staff, management and strategy, with a duty serve all its customers equally.
Since Openreach’s independence was established in 2018, we have been closely monitoring how the arrangements have been working in practice. Today’s annual report finds that, overall, Openreach continues to operate in a way that is strategically independent from BT, as envisioned by the Commitments. Strong structures and processes are now well-embedded across both organisations to support compliance, or address any issues that may arise.
Given the importance of these Commitments to the ecosystem that supports competition in the telecoms market, we expect BT and Openreach companies to remain vigilant so that they remain secure and central to their relationship in the future. We will continue to monitor developments closely.
