Legal hurdles to super-fast broadband deal with Openreach

A proposed £600 million deal has been announced between the UK government and BT Group’s network subsidiary OpenReach.

The deal which aimed to deliver superfast broadband to 1.4 million rural homes, now faces legal hurdles.  Legal advisers have raised concerns that a voluntary offer from Openreach could be challenged in the courts as unfair state support. Talks between officials and the company are ongoing, but sources said discussions towards a voluntary investment by Openreach were proving “very challenging”.

In some areas the upgrade would come on top of £1.2 billion in subsidies that funded upgrades for easier-to-reach rural homes, the Telegraph reported.

The Government has the option of imposing new regulations that would force Openreach to upgrade rural broadband lines when requested. Ministers are keen for those final homes who cannot receive a 10 megabits per second connection to be upgraded by 2022 at the latest.

OpenReach are hoping for a quick resolution to the case, as they would rather an voluntary deal than a statutory obligation. “we’d have the opportunity to build the network proactively, rather than waiting for individual customers to place orders”.

The spokesman continues: “We’re very keen to get on with the job of getting decent broadband speeds to very hard-to-reach areas.”

The government need to decide whether a deal with BT would be best for its customers, and consider the risks if it is brought into a court battle.

A government spokesman concludes: “Whichever of the two approaches we go with in the end, the driving force behind our decision making will be making sure we get the best deal for consumers.”

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