Vodafone is in talks with BT Group company Openreach about a possible joint investment in fibre-optic networks in UK cities, reports The Telegraph. According to unnamed industry sources, they are in "early but serious" talks about building new large-scale infrastructure to replace old copper lines, with Vodafone looking to initially focus on major metropolitan areas.
The proposed joint project could cost billions of pounds and radically alter the UK telecoms market. Currently, only Openreach and Virgin Media are large-scale infrastructure investors. As the only one providing broadband over its network, Virgin has a speed advantage over the Openreach network, which is used by rivals Sky, BT and TalkTalk to deliver broadband services.
Sources suggest that any deal between Openreach and Vodafone could be hampered by regulations governing how Openreach operates. It is required to provide access to its network on equal terms to all retailers, with Vodafone understood to be demanding a term of exclusivity over any new infrastructure. Openreach is believed to have held early talks with Ofcom about relaxing these rules to allow Vodafone to invest in infrastructure.
