BT Group PLC (LON:BT.A) shares rose to the top of the FTSE 100 on Wednesday after the UK telecoms regulator said it was “removing the roadblocks” for companies to invest in superfast broadband.
Ofcom unveiled new proposals for fixed-line regulation to “supercharge” investment in fibre-to-the-home internet infrastructure, helping BT roll out fibre to rural areas of the country.
READ: BT faces massive month from Ofcom review and election result
Plans include setting wholesale prices for BT’s arms-length Openreach infrastructure network in a way “that encourages competition from new networks, as well as investment by Openreach”.
As well as measures to protect customers and drive competition by preventing Openreach from stifling competition, Ofcom also said the closing of the copper network as full fibre is built would mean Openreach “does not have the unnecessary costs of running two parallel networks”.
Ofcom’s interim chief Jonathan Oxley said: “We’re removing the remaining roadblocks to investment and supporting competition, so companies can build the networks.”
“Full-fibre broadband is much faster and more reliable. It’s vital that people and businesses everywhere – whether in rural areas, smaller towns or cities – can enjoy these benefits. So we’re making sure companies have the right incentives to accelerate full fibre to every part of the UK.”
The government last month made a £5bn commitment to help investment in faster networks in rural areas.
BT boss Philip Jansen said: “We will continue our discussions with government, Ofcom and the industry so that we can have the confidence to significantly extend our role in this important national mission and increase our full fibre target to 15mln premises and potentially beyond.”
Shares in BT, which last summer fell to an eight-year low, received a filip from the election result and continued to rally on Wednesday, up 2% to 195.96p.