Statement: Promoting competition and investment in fibre networks – review of the physical infrastructure and business connectivity markets

Statement published 28 June 2019, draft statement published 24 May 2019

UK telecoms networks are increasingly reliant on high-capacity fibre lines. Such lines are distributed through the country within physical infrastructure specifically built for telecoms networks, such as underground ducts or telegraph poles. Any telecoms provider can build such infrastructure. However, the high construction costs involved can reduce the commercial case for investing in new networks. This can give companies with existing infrastructure a major advantage in making such investments.

The introduction to this document sets out the strategic context for our review of the physical infrastructure and business connectivity markets. This strategy looks to enable widespread, full-fibre network competition and to encourage competition and investment through revised regulation.

Volume 1 of this document sets out our review of the physical infrastructure market (PIMR) and our decision on regulation that will allow all telecoms providers access to the largest network of suitable telecoms physical infrastructure – the ducts and poles owned by BT and operated by Openreach. Our objective is to promote telecoms network competition by making it cheaper and easier to build new high-capacity connections for homes and businesses. For queries please contact pimr@ofcom.org.uk.

Volume 2 of this document sets out review of the business connectivity market (BCMR) and our decision on regulation of this market for high speed business services (leased lines) in the UK. Leased lines are high speed, high-quality, point-to-point data connections that telecoms providers use for connecting offices, mobile base stations, and broadband access networks. As such, they are essential to support the provision of mobile, business, and residential broadband services and form the backbone of the UK’s digital infrastructure. For queries please contact BCMR@ofcom.org.uk.

Volume 3 of this document sets out our decision on the design of the price caps we are imposing in the leased lines market, which aim to prevent excessive pricing where there is little prospect of competition developing. For queries please contact LLCC@ofcom.org.uk.

The decisions published here set out how we will regulate these markets for the period to April 2021. Our final decision documents can be found in the list of main documents, and our draft decisions in the list of supporting documents.

Update 28 August 2019 – European Commission letter

The European Commission has published its response to our draft PIMR/BCMR/LLCC proposals.