Statement: Approach to the Copper Retirement second threshold calculation - Telecoms Access Review 2026-31

Statement published 9 September 2026

Over time, customers currently using Openreach’s legacy copper-based network will migrate, either to Openreach’s fibre to the premises (FTTP) network or to rival networks.  

Eventually, Openreach’s copper-based network can be decommissioned to avoid the costly running of two parallel networks. This is known as ‘copper retirement’. We want our regulation to support the retirement of Openreach’s copper-based network, while facilitating the wider objectives of the Telecoms Access Review 2026-31 to promote competition and investment in high quality gigabit-capable networks. 

This statement relates to the second threshold of our copper retirement framework. It sets out our decision to allow Openreach to exclude premises where FTTP is available from the ultrafast coverage requirement that it must meet before the charge control on copper-based services is disapplied in an exchange area. If FTTP services are not available at a premises, then the charge control on copper-based services will remain in place.