PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT
What next for our rural broadband?
Q If BT axes its copper phone network, where will people like me finish up? I have an exchange-only line, to my very rural location – a distance of about 3km. My ADSL gets around 6.5Mbps when the wind is in the east, with upload at about 0.45Mbps! This is suitable for most of my requirements, which is fortunate as Openreach refuses to connect me to anything better. It tells me it is “not prepared to modify the network for any reason”. There is fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) a kilometre from us and fibre from my exchange passes my front gate in an underground duct that goes to this cabinet. So, if the copper goes, what do we do? Apart from the bottom falling out of the market for scrap copper, is Starlink (www.starlink.com) satellite broadband going to be our only option?
Andrew Walker
A This is one of those questions where we begin our answer with a deep breath followed by… it’s complicated. But, as ever, we’ll try to simplify as much as possible.
First, we must be clear in stating that it’s not BT that’s ditching its copper network, but Openreach. Admittedly, that’s largely a technicality, because Openreach is owned by BT. However, as a provider of phone and broadband services – and specifically in regard to the supply of voice services over the traditional copper network – BT is in the same boat as many other providers that rely wholly on Openreach.
And that boat is headed towards a December 2025 landing, after which time voice services from Openreach-reliant providers, including BT, will be available only digitally – via a fibre broadband connection, for example.
In fact, in September 2023, these same providers stopped selling traditional analogue phone services.
However, it’s important to understand that some big-name providers – such as TalkTalk and Sky – offer ‘fully unbundled’ packages. As such, they’re not tied to the Openreach schedule and can do their own thing,. This is also confirmed in the Ofcom consultation document, at (see point 2.9).
