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Consultation outcome – Commercial Copper terms

Thank you for sharing your feedback during our recent consultation on the development of Commercial Copper Terms.

We will reflect on the responses as we produce draft terms for further comment. As signalled in the consultation, we are aiming to produce draft terms for comment by the end of September.

After reviewing the responses, we have produced responses to some key questions raised during the consultation to clarify our intentions:


Timing of proposed service changes (including stop sell)  

  • All changes described in the ‘Streamlining’ section of the consultation, including the proposed stop-sell, would be features of the new commercial copper terms.  
  • They would take effect from when the commercial copper terms come into effect – ‘transition day’ on the indicative timetable.   
  • The indicative timetable has ‘transition day’ at 31 August 2026 but this is contingent on when deregulation is implemented and is therefore subject to change.
  • There was a question about the practicality of an exception to baseband stop-sell for TSO purposes.  We will address that if required, but note our objective of avoiding changes to systems and processes that would necessitate investment in legacy services.   
            

Copper to fibre transfer

  • We are not proposing any change to how customers can select a fibre provider and move from copper to fibre services.

 

UBA service variants
One of our streamlining proposals was to remove EUBA variants from the UBA terms. This raised questions about the impact on existing services and how this related to ADSL and VDSL respectively.

  • The UBA service description includes ‘Basic UBA’ which is an internet-grade, best efforts, full speed/full speed service; and ‘Enhanced UBA’ which includes simultaneous delivery of internet-grade IP traffic and real time grade IP traffic. The Enhanced UBA variants are subject to a price uplift to reflect the real-time grade IP traffic commitment.
  • The Enhanced UBA variants have very low uptake (~0.5%    of UBA connections) and our proposal is to drop the Enhanced UBA description and move to single service variant for the purposes of the terms,  likely based on the current ‘Basic UBA’ description (tbc).  
  • Our intention is not that this would mean any practical change to individual connections – the small number of Enhanced UBA variant connections would continue uninterrupted, though the real-time grade IP traffic would no longer be guaranteed.


ADSL and VDSL

  • Today there is no distinction between ADSL and VDSL in the UBA terms. Where available, RSPs have the choice of ADSL or VDSL and there is no difference in terms or price based on the DSL technology selected. This would continue and the single service variant we are proposing would cover both ADSL and VDSL services – as it does today.
  • We are seeking to avoid driving changes to systems and processes. One of our stated objectives is not waste resources on a service being retired. Our aim is to simplify the terms when the UBA regulation falls away and stop doing things that have low value and no longer make sense.


Development of copper pricing

  • We appreciate and understand the high degree of interest in copper pricing following deregulation. Though we are not in a position to indicate now what the prices will be due to the factors described in the consultation, we can assure you that price changes will be signalled well in advance, so you and your customers have the opportunity to decide how to respond prior to any price change taking effect.


RSP-led copper exit
We received feedback that a process reflecting the 6-month notice framework under the Copper Withdrawal Code may be too long as RSPs may wish to exit copper services sooner.

  • The retirement process commitments we propose to include in the terms are, like the Copper Withdrawal Code, in relation to Chorus initiated copper retirement. RSPs are free to relinquish their copper services at any time under the current UBA terms both inside and outside fibre areas. We are not proposing changes to this.
  • Commercial copper terms will apply for those RSPs who wish to continue to provide copper services following deregulation, but you can choose to stop providing copper services at any time including prior to deregulation.
  • You can stop providing copper services and relinquish UBA and baseband connections at any time through the usual relinquishment process. Alternatively, if you would like to discuss planning for exiting copper services, we encourage you to get   in touch with us now. We can provide support in terms of provision of data and customer education regarding alternatives, and the product withdrawal process can be controlled by you.
     

Questions? 
If you have any further question about the drafting of Commercial Copper terms, please reach out to your Chorus Channel Partner team.