The move means that Openreach Limited - the new, legally separate, wholly owned subsidiary of BT plc - now has an independent workforce of 31,000 people, including the largest team of fibre broadband engineers in the country.
Also from today, BT’s ‘Northern Ireland Networks’ division will be rebranded as ‘Openreach Northern Ireland’. This team already delivers Openreach products and services in Northern Ireland, and will continue to focus on providing better, broader and more reliable connectivity for all its customers in the communications market.
Mike McTighe, Openreach Chairman, said: “This is an important day for Openreach as we’re fulfilling the commitments to Ofcom under the Digital Communications Review.
“Openreach now has its own Board, greater strategic and operational independence, a separate brand and an independent workforce – and we’re ambitious for the future.
“We’ve set out a clear plan to invest in new, more reliable, future-proof broadband technology, and we’re right in the middle of our largest ever recruitment drive for 3,500 engineers – so it’s an exciting time to be part of Openreach Limited.
“We’re determined to continue improving customer service, collaborating closely with our customers, and spearheading the national rollout of next generation broadband networks.”
Openreach also announced in July a series of wholesale discounts to incentivise its 600 Communications Providers to upgrade their customers onto the better broadband networks it has already built.