The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has begun a consultation on the proposed introduction of a new “bulk upgrade process,” which requires a change to Openreach’s (BT) quality of service regulation but would make it more efficient for them to upgrade slower lines to “superfast” or “ultrafast” (FTTC or G.fast) broadband ISP connections.
Apparently ISPs that use Openreach’s network have been calling for a “more efficient and cost-effective” way to upgrade existing retail customers to higher-speed products, which is particularly important given all of the discounts and offers that the operator is currently promoting in order to encourage stronger take-up.
The proposed solution to this is a voluntary new installation process that will allow providers to upgrade their standard broadband customers (e.g. copper line ADSLMax / ADSL2+) to superfast and ultrafast broadband products in batches, at a given street cabinet, and at a lower price per line.
All of this sounds good but there’s a caveat. Reducing costs in this way would require Openreach to delay completing some jobs until there is a sufficient volume from a given ISP at a given cabinet. To account for this, Openreach plans to offer orders using the capability under different contractual terms, which accommodate for the lengthier lead time.
Openreach started a trial of this new approach on 28th October 2019 and no doubt their plans for a full launch will be subject to both the results of that and this consultation document. Assuming all goes well then the new method could be introduced from sometime during “early” 2020. We suspect any cost savings would not be passed on to consumers but that would be up to the ISPs.