nexfibre urges regulatory consistency for TAR 2026

nexfibre is calling for maintained restrictions on Openreach in Ofcom’s Telecoms Access Review (TAR) 2026, which will reset the fibre rules for the next five years.

Its recent report, UK Fibre: A Fork In the Road, urges regulatory consistency to avoid harming investment, innovation and the progress of full fibre roll-out.

To maintain a competitive landscape, nexfibre asks Ofcom to tackle the following issues: maintain regulation on the dominant operator; address anti-competitive behaviour to prevent harmful pricing schemes and ensure fair competition; improve PIA regulation: address transparency and cost-sharing issues in the regulation of Openreach’s PIA infrastructure charges to support investment; and assess the copper switch-off impact and ensure appropriate regulation for Openreach’s copper to fibre network migration to promote competition.

Giles Rowbotham, General Counsel and Chief Development Officer of nexfibre, said: “The UK has made terrific progress in expanding full fibre broadband in recent years, thanks in part to the conditions created by the last Ofcom review, including PIA sharing.

“However, the current market structure is unsustainable and to overcome these issues, we are urging Ofcom to prioritise measures that boost sustainable scaled competition alongside doing more to restrain anti-competitive activity from the dominant operator.

“The UK needs a regulatory environment that balances the need for stable regulation with a pragmatic view of market consolidation and takes a firm hand in restricting behaviour that stymies meaningful nationwide competition.”