Through the work of the Openreach Monitoring Unit (OMU), Ofcom ensures that Openreach meets our expectations for how it deals with both its customers and its competitors.
In 2017, BT notified Ofcom of its voluntary commitments to further reform Openreach, making it a distinct company with its own staff, management, purpose and strategy. Ofcom originally established the OMU to monitor Openreach and BT’s compliance with the commitments. Each year since then, we have reported the findings from our monitoring work.
What the OMU does
The OMU monitors that Openreach:
- continues to operate with greater strategic independence from BT Group, so that it can and does act in the interests of all its customers and does not, for example, preference BT Group brands; and
- meets the regulatory requirements and expectations we imposed upon it in the Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review (WFTMR) to support competition and investment in gigabit-capable networks.
Our work is separate to Ofcom's other regulatory work relating to BT and Openreach. Ofcom continues to carry out policy and enforcement activities in accordance with the relevant legislative requirements and any published procedures.
What it doesn't do
The OMU will not get involved in individual problems arising between customers and BT or Openreach. And while we are keen to hear from stakeholders, the OMU will not necessarily resolve individual issues between companies and BT or Openreach. Regulatory disputes between parties should be brought to Ofcom where appropriate under the existing process (PDF, 276.7 KB).
If you are concerned about specific aspects of the service provided by BT or Openreach, you should contact BT or Openreach in the first instance.
Contact us
We encourage stakeholders to contact the OMU if they have any concerns about Openreach's compliance with the commitments or problems related to the WFTMR framework.
To get in touch with the OMU, please email OMU@ofcom.org.uk
Latest report
On 11 September 2024, we published our annual monitoring report (PDF, 270 KB). We have continued to see evidence that the commitments are well-established and well-embedded across BT and Openreach.
The report also covers the OMU’s focus on scrutinising Openreach’s activities against the WFTMR framework, as well as considering a number of concerns from industry.
Previous reports
Letter from Ofcom to BT re Commitments monitoring 25 June 2024
BT progress report Nov 2018 (PDF, 1010.7 KB)
Openreach progress report Nov 2018 (PDF, 1.5 MB)
Ofcom/BT Memorandum of Understanding (PDF, 530.1 KB)
Ofcom/Openreach Memorandum of Understanding (PDF, 416.9 KB)
BT’s non-confidential submission on implementation (PDF, 1.3 MB)
Openreach’s non-confidential submission on implementation (PDF, 2.3 MB)