UK altnets join forces to lobby Ofcom for ‘fair’ infrastructure access

PIA stands for Physical Infrastructure Access, which seems to refer to existing infrastructure needed to roll out fibre networks – i.e. ducts and poles. Access to most of this is controlled by their biggest competitor, Openreach, which they allege is overcharging them for the privilege. It seems their individual lobbying of Ofcom on the matter has failed to yield the desired outcomes, so they decided it was time to act collectively.

The ringleader seems to be Nexfibre, which secured the collaboration of AllPoints Fibre, Community Fibre, Gigaclear, and Netomnia/Brsk for this venture. The group represents over five million ready-for-service fibre premises, pretty much all of which has presumably required use of Openreach’s physical infrastructure for access.

They commissioned some research from SPC Network, which found ‘an imbalance between Openreach and alternative network operators, particularly in pricing, where alternative operators pay significantly more to access ducts and poles than Openreach charges itself.’ While, on the surface, that’s hardly surprising, regulation of this former state monopoly is supposed to prevent this sport of thing so, if accurate, Ofcom has dropped the ball.

“At the moment there is not a level playing field between Openreach and alternative network operators on PIA,” said Giles Rowbotham, General Counsel at Netfibre and spokesperson for the PIA Coalition. “Alternative network operators pay significantly more to access infrastructure compared to Openreach. If left unremedied, this disparity risks choking investment, slowing down the rollout of high-speed broadband across the UK, and therefore limiting consumer choice.

“We're calling on Ofcom to act in its upcoming market review to ensure a level playing field for all providers and fair and equal access to critical infrastructure. The Coalition has presented a detailed analysis to the regulator and to Openreach and we look forward to engaging collaboratively and constructively on this issue.”

As they have been for years. The whole point of forcing BT to separate itself from Openreach was to open up the UK’s fixed line market to competition but that separation is incomplete and Openreach has an obvious incentive to favour its own access. Regulation is supposed to be all about maintaining a competitive environment by preventing monopolistic behaviour and it’s surely not difficult to force Openreach to apply flat PIA pricing across the board.

This could present an opportunity for Ofcom’s new Group Director for Networks and Communications to justify her considerable salary, assuming internet censorship doesn’t occupy all of her time. There are, however, a few notable absences from this new coalition, especially CityFibre, so maybe not everyone agrees that Openreach is misbehaving on this matter.