This page provides information on Industry consultations and documents.
In December 2020 we began to discuss the long-term handover architecture of the Openreach network with Communications Providers (CPs). We highlighted the opportunity for Openreach to exit exchanges that will no longer be needed to support FTTP, FTTC or Ethernet services. We set out an ambition to exit 100 exchange buildings by December 2030, and a large majority of the remaining 4,500 non-handover exchanges in the early 2030s. By exiting exchanges, we see an opportunity for Openreach and CPs to consolidate infrastructure, reduce energy consumption and increase efficiency.
Several respondents to the ‘Exchange Footprint’ consultation suggested that it will be challenging to exit 100 exchanges by 2030. We agree. To address this we plan to run a series of pilots.
A key priority for Openreach is to ensure that all customers are migrated safely and with minimal disruption. The pilots will help us develop and test the processes that we need to achieve this.
This briefing is to inform all CPs that Openreach will be progressing with the Exchange Exit Pilot as outlined in the industry consultation on 12 November 2021. As a result of Industry feedback, Openreach propose a number of changes to the timescales and scope of the Exchange Exit Pilot. These changes are listed in CP briefing GEN023/22.
The objective of this consultation is to set out the approach Openreach intend to take to exit the 103 priority exchanges by December 2030. Our guiding principles in designing this approach have been to (i) minimise the impact on customers; (ii) protect vulnerable customer groups and CNI; and (iii) minimise costs for industry, including both CPs and Openreach.
The consultation was launched on 22 June 2023 and CPs were asked to submit responses by 21 September 2023.
Openreach acknowledges and thanks respondents for the valuable feedback provided. Having considered this feedback and the complexity of some of the commercial asks, our consultation response will form 2 parts. Part 1, issued on 28 December 2023 summarises the feedback received from CPs and provides our initial response where we are able to do so. Part 2 will be published by the end of March 2024, covering further support to exit exchanges that can be made available to CPs and any further CP questions not covered in Part 1.
The objectives of this consultation are to set out Openreach's initial thinking on how our exchange footprint should evolve over the next 20+ years, and to provide a basis for discussion and input from Communications Providers (CPs). We invite CPs to help us (i) refine the end-state vision, and (ii) determine how we move towards it. The consultation was launched on Thursday 3 December 2020, and we ask CPs to submit responses by Friday 26 February 2021.