Response to legal separation of Openreach

“The real story here is the UK’s shocking ‘fibre gap’. Whilst it is welcome that these time-consuming negotiations seem to be at an end, there is nothing in this announcement to suggest Openreach will now start to build the fibre infrastructure this country needs. Ofcom’s focus needs to shift to encouraging alternative fibre builders to do the things Openreach can’t or won’t do – whatever its legal status. “CityFibre is well placed to take on that challenge and to meet Ofcom’s strategic objective of reducing the UK’s reliance on Openreach to get the job done. The substantial Government funding for fibre announced in the budget this week will help to accelerate our own full fibre rollout programme.” - Mark Collins, CityFibre's Director of Strategy and Policy