BT and Openreach ordered to separate

Telecoms giant BT has been ordered to legally separate from its Openreach division after failing to address competition concerns raised by Ofcom. In a separate announcement, BT has appointed Mike McTighe as Openreach's first chairman.

The industry regulator is preparing a formal notification to the European Commission to start the process, and said it was disappointed that BT has "not yet come forward with proposals to meet our competition concerns".

"Some progress has been made, but this has not been enough, and action is required now to deliver better outcomes for phone and broadband users," Ofcom added.

Openreach is the division of BT Group that develops and maintains the UK's main telecoms network used by providers such as Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and BT's retail business.

In a separate announcement today (29 November 2016), BT has appointed former Ofcom executive Mike McTighe as the first chairman of Openreach. He will oversee the new board, which will operate from early 2017, and be "instrumental" in selecting further independent members.

BT said the appointment was part of its strategy to make Openreach more independent and transparent.

BT chairman Sir Michael Rake said: "We promised in July to create an Openreach board and we are delivering on that promise. I remain hopeful this significant move by BT can help to underpin a sustainable, proportionate and fair regulatory settlement that is in the interests of the whole country."

Picture: New Openreach chairman Mike McTighe

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