What is Openreach?
Openreach is the company responsible for building and maintaining the UK's physical broadband and telecoms network. Think of it as the highway system for the internet, connecting homes and businesses to broadband.
Then, think of service providers like BT, Sky, and Vodafone as its customers who all have equal access to this network which they then use to then deliver their broadband deals to the public.
Openreach is the physical infrastructure in place for 99% of the UK. You’ll see Openreach vans, Openreach engineers working on green street cabinets and those with full fibre from an Openreach provider will have a white box installed on their property with an Openreach logo.
Is Openreach part of BT?
Yes. And no. It’s a bit confusing.
Openreach is part of the BT Group, but also a legally separate business. It used to be owned by BT and then a split was demanded by Ofcom in 2017 because there were concerns that Openreach was favouriting its own retail business, BT, when making strategic decisions on any new network investments.
Who uses the Openreach network?
Openreach doesn't sell broadband directly to consumers. Instead, it provides network access to over 650 different service providers. These companies then use Openreach's infrastructure to offer broadband, phone, and TV packages to their customers.
Sky, Plusnet, Vodafone, BT, NOW broadband, Rebel, Onestream, BRSK and V4 Consumer and many more deliver their broadband using the Openreach network.
Which is why the millions of customers who do use Openreach daily, might not know its name. By the time its reached your homes its been packaged as a different brand.
So, will I always get my broadband through Openreach?
No, not any more.
The government announced Project Gigabit in 2019. A flagship £5 billion programme to upgrade the UK’s broadband infrastructure so that it can deliver superfast, full-fibre broadband to a third of homes by 2025. With nationwide coverage expected by 2030.
Knowing that this wouldn’t be possible on the main network provider, BT Openreach, alone, the government allocated a huge part of this budget to helping new companies set up and start their own full fibre infrastructures.
While Openreach is undertaking the bulk of the upgrade, other smaller companies – like Cityfibre, Community Fibre, and Hyperoptic – are working on upgrading their local fibre networks to serve yet unreached communities and niche applications.
Helping rural areas
Unlike Openreach, these new networks being built aren’t nationwide. And they aren’t tied into any regimented rollout plans. They are dozens of smaller, localised providers, with the goal of laying fibre as quickly as possible. Looking to gain more of the market share, many have reached out to the more rural, isolated and disadvantaged communities that have been so far overlooked by Openreach.
All of these new providers run on full fibre networks, meaning they can bring households and businesses gigabit 1000 plus speeds as they are not restricted to the older, copper lines installed years ago.
The Virgin Media challenge
Before the recent rise of alternative networks helping in the race for full fibre, Virgin Media was Openreach’s only competition.
Virgin Media runs its own network separate to Openreach. It uses pre-existing cable TV wires, known as DOCSIS 3 coaxial cables which can provide the high speeds offered by Virgin.
16.2 million homes are already connected to this network that runs up and down the UK. And now Virgin Media plans to challenge even more by doing what Openreach does and opening up its fibre broadband network to rival internet brands, meaning they have another choice on how to deliver their broadband.
Virgin 02 will offer a true alternative for broadband providers who want to unlock faster speeds in parts of the UK that haven’t yet been upgraded by Openreach. All of this is good news for customers, as it creates more competition.
Will I ever need to contact Openreach?
No. Openreach has no customer support for the general public. Customers or businesses needing help with fibre broadband should always contact their broadband provider instead. If there’s ever a problem with the Openreach network in your area, it’s up to whoever you have your broadband with to get sorted on your behalf. And likewise, if you ever need an Openreach engineer, it will be your broadband provider who arranges this to happen.
Find out how to contact your broadband provider.
