RE: Sunny uplands24 May 2023 09:06
New pricing arrangements proposed by BT’s regulated Openreach arm for its full-fibre services have been given the all-clear by Ofcom.
The Equinox 2 offer involved giving lower prices to retail providers - such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone - if they agree to use mainly Openreach's full-fibre products for new orders instead of its legacy copper products.
The proposals mean alternative network operators are now likely to face stronger competition from Openreach. However, the regulator concluded that the conditional terms of the offer did not create a barrier to the use of altnets.
Ofcom said: "Our overriding objective is to bring better broadband to people across the UK, by promoting competitive investment in high-speed networks and making sure there's a level playing field for all companies.
"With this in mind, and based on the evidence available to us, we don't consider Openreach's new pricing discounts to be anti-competitive."