BT promises wholesale price freeze in full-fibre broadband push
BT has pledged to freeze prices for its wholesale telecoms customers in a bid to drive the take-up of full-fibre broadband services and fend off competition from rivals.
The FTSE 100 company today said it will hold prices for up to 10 years when communications providers commit to using full-fibre wherever it is available, rather than older services such as fibre-to-the-cabinet or copper.
Openreach — BT’s broadband unit — added that a single national rental price will apply across its network.
BT is pumping £15bn into the rollout of full-fibre broadband and recently hiked its target to reach 25m homes by the end of 2026.
In addition to offering its own services, BT also rents its network to other telecoms providers such as Sky and Talktalk.
The blue-chip giant is leading the UK’s efforts to build the next-generation internet network, but is facing competition from Virgin Media and smaller rivals such as Cityfibre and Hyperoptic.
“We’re determined to make full-fibre the default option for customers throughout the UK, so we’ve been working closely with communications providers to offer simple and competitive pricing which gives them the long-term certainty and flexibility they need,” said Katie Milligan, managing director of customer, commercials and propositions at Openreach.
“We believe this offer makes full-fibre a must-have for every home and business, and it means more people could start benefitting from our most revolutionary and reliable broadband sooner.”
It comes weeks after BT gained a major new investor when billionaire Patrick Drahi took a 12.1 per cent stake through telecoms firm Altice.
The Franco-Israeli tycoon pumped more than £2bn into BT, citing the opportunity to invest in the broadband rollout, though Altice said it was not planning a takeover bid.
Drahi has reportedly rejected the idea of selling a stake in Openreach — an option that had been widely mooted for BT.
BT, which is led by chief executive Philip Jansen, has welcomed Drahi’s investment.