Consultation: Further consultation on WLA pricing remedies - Telecoms Access Review 2026-31

In March 2025, we consulted on proposals for our regulation of the fixed telecoms markets that underpin broadband, mobile and business connections, for the TAR26 period from April 2026 to March 2031. This included proposed remedies in the markets for wholesale local access (WLA), leased lines access (LLA), physical infrastructure (PI), and inter-exchange connectivity (IEC), in which we provisionally identified BT as having significant market power (SMP).

In the WLA market, in areas where there is, or there is likely to be potential for, material and sustainable competition (WLA Area 2) we proposed charge controlling an anchor product offering download speeds of up to 80Mbit/s and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbit/s (referred to as 80/20). These charge controls allowed for pricing continuity. In areas where there is not, and there is unlikely to be potential for material and sustainable competition (WLA Area 3), we proposed to continue allowing Openreach the opportunity to recover the reasonable costs of its investments in rolling out its Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network commercially. We proposed that this could also be achieved by charge controls on the 80/20 product that allowed for pricing continuity.

This document sets out an alternative approach to achieving pricing continuity in the WLA markets by relying on Openreach’s contracts rather than imposing charge controls. This follows responses to our March 2025 Consultation and proposals from Openreach to make various amendments to its contracts and pricing offers so that they can deliver similar outcomes to the proposed charge controls. Our regulation must be proportionate. Where commercial agreements are in place which can meet our objectives, relying on these agreements could achieve similar outcomes to charge controls but in a less restrictive way.

We are seeking views on whether it would be appropriate for us to take this approach.

We are also consulting on an update to our approach to FTTP 80/20 connection charges and the ‘geographic discrimination prohibition’ we proposed in the March 2025 Consultation.

Responding to this consultation

Please submit responses using the consultation response form by 5pm 17 November 2025.