Openreach and Covid-19

Openreach have announced new measures in an effort to protect their network, their engineers, the public and help contain the virus. This includes the MBORC (Matter Beyond Our Reasonable Control) notification issued yesterday. With the aim of providing you with as much information as possible and enabling us to work collaboratively to enable the delivery of services where possible (particularly for Critical National Infrastructure) we have put together the below update broken down by the relevant areas.

Please note: Openreach services are consumed by several of our key suppliers and therefore the impact that is detailed will be seen for these services.

Impact to Provide and Repair for WLR, Broadband (ADSL, FTTC, G.FAST & FTTP), Ethernet (EoFTTC, EFM and Fibre) and CPN (MPLS)

Broadband and WLR Provide – New Installs and Inflight Orders

We will continue to accept and deliver WLR and Broadband services where no internal access to the premise is needed.

Where Openreach require an onsite visit and the customer is not deemed “at risk” or part of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) then Openreach will reappoint for after 1st June.

Please note the definition of CNI is: NHS, pharmacies, utilities, emergency services, retail and wholesale food distribution outlets, financial services businesses as defined by YouGov.

Please note the definition of “at risk” is in line with PHE’s (Public Health England’s) Covid-19 at risk criteria (i.e. pregnant/over 70/under 70 with an underlying medical condition).

Ethernet Provide – New Installs and Inflight Orders

Openreach are accepting new Ethernet deliveries and will continue with all works outside of the customer premise to curtilage. Openreach will not proceed to onsite install for any non CNI customers for new orders and in-flight deliveries. Openreach will not reappoint cancelled appointments in the first instance. Openreach have not yet confirmed the delay mechanism for in flight orders.

Repair (WLR, Broadband and Ethernet) – External Work

Openreach have confirmed that repair work will continue as normal where faults can be resolved remotely or the fault lies outside of the customer premise.

Repair (WLR, Broadband and Ethernet) – Customer Access Required (will impact other suppliers)

Openreach engineers will no longer be able to enter customer premises, unless the customer meets the “at risk” or CNI criteria. Where services are interrupted please work with us to provide alternative solutions where possible.

We appreciate these are challenging and unprecedented times for us all as businesses. At this juncture we need to ensure we maintain social distancing where possible for the safety of each other and the protection of our NHS.

If you have any questions or concerns, then please do not hesitate to contact me