Ofcom to reduce fibre broadband switching fee?

It could be much cheaper to change between fibre broadband operators, under new regulations that have been put forward to the European Commission.

As things currently stand, a customer wishing to switch provider sometimes has to pay a £50 fee to Openreach. Ofcom is planning to reduce this to just £11, which would enable operators to charge cheaper start-up fees.

It is also hoped this will help to promote a healthy sense of competition among providers.

In addition to this, the minimum length of a wholesale contract between BT and the new supplier will be reduced to one month from the current one-year time frame. Such a change will enable shorter contracts to be offered to consumers by operators. 

The final decision for these proposed regulations will be revealed in June, after the European Commission has voted on them. 

It is thought there are currently approximately 2.7 million superfast broadband connections in the UK.