Ofcom sets the rural repair target at what Openreach already achieves, not the 83% Scotland's consumer body asked for

Ofcom's Telecoms Access Review sets the rules Openreach and other network operators must follow for the next five years — including how quickly they must fix a fault in areas with no realistic prospect of a rival network ever being built, what Ofcom calls "Area 3". That category covers 14% of the UK and a large share of rural Scotland.

Ofcom had proposed that 79% of full-fibre faults in Area 3 be fixed within one working day. Consumer Scotland, the statutory body representing Scottish consumers, asked for 83%, and for 98% rather than 96% to be fixed within 11 working days. Its case: around 16,000 premises in Scotland still don't have a decent broadband connection, full fibre reaches only 44% of rural Scottish premises against 65% for Scotland overall, and more than 30% of Scottish postcodes fall into Area 3, against 18% across the UK — so a standard set for the whole UK matters more here than anywhere else.

Ofcom's final statement, published 17 March 2026, set the standard at 81% — the level Openreach was already achieving in these areas — and left the 11-day standard at 96%. It said it had "decided not to introduce higher standards as suggested" by Sky and Consumer Scotland, because a standard above Openreach's existing performance would not fit its aim of "a backstop against any future deterioration in performance." That is a floor to stop things getting worse, not a target to make them better. One real gain: the standard applies from 2026/27, a year earlier than Ofcom first proposed.

It's exactly the kind of decision our letters to Scotland's 57 MPs ask them to scrutinise: enforcement of telecoms standards is a reserved matter, decided at a UK regulator, not Holyrood. A repair target isn't an abstract number — it's how many extra days a household or business in a Scottish glen or island goes without a working line. We'll be tracking whether Ofcom revisits this before the framework runs its course in 2031.

Source: Ofcom: Telecoms Access Review 2026-31 statement, Volume 5: Quality of service (17 March 2026) · Consumer Scotland: response to the Telecoms Access Review

Correction, 5 October 2026: An earlier version of this article said Ofcom's final rules kept the target at 79%, and that Scotland accounts for more than 30% of the UK's Area 3 postcodes. The 79% figure was Ofcom's original proposal; its final decision was 81%. The 30% figure is the share of Scottish postcodes that fall within Area 3. The headline and text have been corrected. See our corrections log.

← All news