INCA has responded to Ofcom’s Call for Inputs on Openreach’s proposed FTTP and Ethernet commercial offers.
Our position is blunt: as drafted, these offers are designed to pull customers off independent networks. They give Communications Providers a significant monetary incentive to target customers already served by Altnets and by Virgin Media O2 — and that is not the same thing as competing on price or service.
The effect would land hardest on urban Altnets, where the overlap with Openreach’s footprint is greatest. If a CP is paid more to move a customer than to win one, the network that actually built the infrastructure is the one that loses.
We have asked Ofcom to look at these offers in the round rather than in isolation, and to weigh what they do to the competitive landscape that a decade of independent investment has created.
This matters right now. Ofcom has since opened a formal consultation on the offers, which closes at 5pm on Thursday 27 August 2026. Ofcom is proposing to direct Openreach to withdraw its Incremental New to Openreach Customer Offer, and is not proposing to intervene on the others. If you have evidence — on overlap, on customer acquisition, on what your wholesalers are telling you, or on investor sentiment — it needs to reach us in the next few days. Send it to Paddy or Gita.
Download INCA’s full response to the Call for Inputs (PDF, 22 pages)