LONDON, March 17, 2026, 20:01 GMT
Shares in BT Group climbed roughly 2.5% to trade near 220 pence Tuesday, following Ofcom’s decision to outline the next five years of Openreach regulations and expand the wholesale price cap across more of the network.
Timing’s critical here for investors. Openreach powers BT’s fibre rollout, and under the latest rules, retail providers now know what they’ll pay to access those lines over the next five years. After years spent expanding the network, BT finally gets a more predictable regulatory framework—making it easier to assess future returns.
Ofcom reports that full-fibre broadband now covers 78% of UK households—a jump from under 25% five years back—and could hit nearly 29 million homes by end-2027. The regulator set a ceiling on the price Openreach can charge providers like Vodafone and Sky for lines up to 80 megabits per second, doubling the current 40 Mbit/s cap. Faster tiers remain unregulated, a move aimed at sustaining investment.
Ofcom’s group director for infrastructure and connectivity, Natalie Black, described the review as “a major milestone.” She said the regulator is setting up the right environment for the rollout’s last stage. Ofcom
Openreach plans a thorough review of the package. Mark Shurmer, who oversees regulation at the company, said competition is “more intense than ever”. Rajiv Datta, chief executive at nexfibre, was blunt: this is “not the moment to deregulate the incumbent”. Fibre competitors to BT aren’t eager to see the rules loosened. Reuters
BT insists its fibre rollout is now delivering results. Back in February, the company logged 571,000 net fibre additions for the third quarter, noted a slowdown in line losses at Openreach, and left its cash flow targets unchanged—2 billion pounds by March 2027, climbing to 3 billion by the end of the decade.
Tuesday’s gain builds on a robust stretch for BT. The stock has climbed 36.8% in the last year, now hovering just under its 52-week peak of 223.6 pence, Hargreaves Lansdown data shows.
But BT hasn’t walked away with everything here. Ofcom made it clear: Openreach still holds significant market power, so full deregulation is off the table for now. The pace at which households switch off copper-based services matters—a slow migration tightens BT’s window to turn its fibre rollout into faster pricing gains.
The framework runs from April 2026 through March 2031. Attention now turns to adoption rates—Ofcom notes that over half of those eligible are yet to move to full fibre.
