BT phone and broadband customers can soon expect "improved line repairs and installations" under new draft Openreach performance targets, UK regulator Ofcom has announced.
The latest Ofcom targets require Openreach – the business responsible for managing BT's UK broadband network – to repair 80 per cent of faults within one-to-two working days.
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Openreach has also been ordered to ensure that 80 per cent of new customers are given a line installation appointment within 12 working days to ensure "better service... in future".
Ofcom has notified the European Commission of its draft targets for Openreach, which are now expected to come into force this summer and will lead to sanctions if they are not met.
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It forms part of Ofcom's Fixed Access Market Reviews, which the regulator describes as a "wide-ranging set of decisions in the wholesale telecoms market".
The performance targets will rise over a three-year period and reach their top level in April 2016. However, Ofcom won't be setting wholesale prices for Openreach’s broadband fibre service.
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Earlier this year, Ofcom revealed that BT had attracted 0.31 complaints per 1,000 customers for its pay TV and 0.32 per 1,000 for broadband in Q4 2013 – the most of any UK provider.
However, the company reported higher-than-anticipated results for the year ending March 31st. TV and broadband demand were seen as key factors in BT defying market expectations.
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by Pete Hayman
