Lauren Fedor

Ofcom calls on BT for “legally separate” Openreach

Openreach should become a “legally separate” company within the BT Group, the UK telecommunications regulator said in a long-awaited verdict on the future of the telecoms group’s profitable infrastructure arm.

Ofcom said that Openreach, which owns the fibres and wires that allow homes and businesses in Britain to get broadband connections, should have an independent board and chairman, as well as control over its own budget.

The regulator stopped short of recommending a full-blown break-up — an option favoured by rivals TalkTalk, Sky and Vodafone. But it said that complete structural separation, with Openreach and BT under distinct ownership, remained an option if the infrastructure division does not act “more independently” and “take decisions for the good of the wider telecoms industry and its customers”.