BT and Openreach are being legally separated

Over the years, BT has often come under fire for its operation of Openreach, the backbone of the UK's internet infrastructure. Upgrades to the lines have been slow and other ISPs who rely on OpenReach have also accused BT of providing a poor service. Now, after a lengthy regulatory battle, BT has finally agreed to spin off Openreach into its own separate company.

OfCom suggested that BT and Openreach be split up back in 2016 and while BT did attempt to keep Openreach under its control, none of those proposals ended up working out. As Reuters reports, the new deal will turn Openreach into a legally separate company with its own brand, free of the BT logo. Around 32,000 staff members will be moved over to the new company, which will also have a new board of directors.

OfCom has been trying to get BT to invest more money into upgrading its infrastructure to Fibre for some time now in an effort to catch up with other European countries. Perhaps now that Openreach is spinning off, it will get to work on upgrading the infrastructure at a faster rate. However, it is important to note that the BT Group still owns the Openreach network.

KitGuru Says: Openreach might be spinning off into its own company but it will still fall under the BT Group umbrella. That said, hopefully this change works out for the best and result in a faster fibre rollout.

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