Ofcom, the telecoms regulator, has approved Openreach‘s new Equinox 2 scheme pricing after months of deliberation.

The approval of the FTTP deal, entitled Equinox 2, has gone through a rather undulating process as Ofcom grappled with the concerns of other networks.

While the new pricing presented by Equinox 2 will offer cheaper broadband options to consumers on the BT-owned broadband provider’s wide network, alternative networks – which have recently been able to compete with Openreach and Virgin media – may struggle to keep up.

Initially, Ofcom gave the deal it’s approval, but alternative networks – ‘altnets’ – rose several complaints that the deals would remove competition across the broadband market by introducing lower prices that altnets would struggle to match.

Ofcom had to essentially decide if the lower prices – which would benefit consumers now – were too low, as to snuff out competition from smaller networks which more recently entered the market.

This caused Ofcom to delay their decision past Equinox 2’s official release date.

Now, Ofcom has come to their final conclusion, allowing the deals to move forward.

Ofcom has detailed the many reasons why it eventually came to this decision.

For one, they found that Equinox 2 is ‘consistent with promoting investment in gigabit-capable networks’ which is a government priority, and they said that Equinox was ‘promoting network-based competition’ rather than hindering it.

Ofcom did recognise that altnets were likely to face stronger competition from Openreach as a result, but that the ‘conditional terms’ in Equinox 2 would not create a barrier to using altnets.

In line with this, Ofcom claimed that internet service providers (ISPs) would benefit from the competition and would still be free to use altnets if they so choose.

Overall, Ofcom believes that “not preventing Openreach from introducing Equinox 2 allows it to engage in network-based competition, without compromising our objective of promoting investment in gigabit-capable networks.”

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An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Our overriding objective is to bring better broadband to people across the UK, by promoting competitive investment in high-speed networks and making sure there’s a level playing field for all companies.

“With this in mind, and based on the evidence available to us, we don’t consider Openreach’s new pricing discounts to be anti-competitive.”

The regulator also said that they considered the level of prices available in the deal, as well as the concerns from altnets, but “do not have concerns that warrant further investigation at this time.”

Further, Openreach has told Ofcom that it plans to make certain commitments in its future conduct, including not having any current plans to change its Equinox 2 rental prices and no intention to initiate further changes until 31 March 2026.