U.K. broadband rules: Ofcom extends BT Openreach regulation by five years; widens price caps to 80 Mbps tier

Britain said on Tuesday (March 17, 2026) it would regulate ​British Telecom (BT) Openreach’s national broadband network for ‌another five years, with a ​price cap on ⁠a wider range of speeds, to drive competition and extend fibre connections ‌to the final fifth of the country’s premises.

The ‌competitive framework put in ‌place ⁠by watchdog Ofcom in 2021 ⁠has resulted in nearly eight in 10 homes having access to full-fibre ​broadband, up from ‌less than a quarter fives years, in a rapid turnaround.

Around three quarters have a ‌choice of two providers — generally Openreach ​and Virgin Media or an alternative smaller network — ⁠but Ofcom said Openreach still retained significant market power and it ‌could not remove regulation entirely.

It said it would cap the nominal price that Openreach can charge retail providers such as Vodafone or Sky — ‌who lease its infrastructure — for download speeds ​up to 80Mbit/s, rather than 40Mbit/s at present.

“The prices ⁠of higher-speed products will remain ⁠unregulated, so providers had an incentive to invest in ‌networks that can deliver faster speeds,” it said on Tuesday (March 17, 2026).