BT Openreach’s pending wholesale price cuts to internet service providers (ISPs) are “desperate and premature” according to Mike Fries, chair of Virgin Media O2 owner Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA).
Dubbed Equinox 2, BT Openreach is due to reduce its wholesale costs in April to encourage broadband providers like Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone to move to high-speed full-fibre broadband.
When BT announced the plans towards the end of 2022, they were unsuccessfully challenged by primary competitor CityFibre on anti-competitive grounds, but Fries appears more sceptical than threatened.
Equinox 2 is “unlikely to make a long-term impact” on Virgin Media’s full-fibre build out, said Fries, calling it “an overreaction” to market competition.
Even so, Fries thinks the book hasn’t quite closed on the anti-competitive question, stating: “We think Ofcom gets the larger picture here and is likely to look at Equinox 2 in a hopefully, comprehensive way, and we look forward to the consultation process.”
Representing Britain’s glut of altnets, the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) has previously warned Ofcom that BT’s pending wholesale price puts could put the government’s £20bn full-fibre investment programme at risk.
“The clear intention of Openreach’s pricing strategy is to restrict altnets’ willingness and appetite to keep building by denying them access to wholesale ISP customers”, INCA’s chief executive Malcolm Corbett said last December.
However, Ofcom has yet to signal any intention to reassess its position.