Consultation outcome

Closure of the September 2023 National Rolling Open Market Review

Updated 25 April 2024

The September 2023 National Rolling Open Market Review (NR OMR) ran from 15 September 2023 to 16 October 2023. 

Building Digital UK (BDUK) requested that suppliers submit their national broadband infrastructure plans, so as to confirm where gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure currently exists or is planned to be built in the UK.

We have now completed evaluating all submissions received and issued formal responses to all suppliers who submitted information over the course of this exercise; including the subsidy control classification treatment of their existing or planned qualifying broadband infrastructure.

Details on the classification system of White, Grey, Black and Under Review and methodology can be found in the section below BDUK Classifications and methodology for this NR OMR.

Further information on the OMR/PR process and how we reach our conclusions can be found in our Subsidy Control Guidance document.

1. Purpose of the National Rolling Open Market Review

The purpose of the NR OMR, which operates on a four-monthly basis (January, May and September), is to ensure that BDUK has the most up to date information about suppliers’ existing and planned build. 

This will support better strategic planning and prioritisation of procurement Intervention Areas (IAs), streamline the OMR process and minimise the risk of BDUK intervening in an area that would disrupt existing commercial plans.

For further guidance on how BDUK determines our IAs for subsidy, please refer to Section 6 ‘Determining Intervention Areas’ of our Open Market Review (OMR) and Public Review (PR) - Subsidy Control Guidance document.

Data collected from the NR OMR will also be used to inform GigaHubs and UK Gigabit Voucher eligibility as well as support the development of other potential BDUK interventions.

2. BDUK classifications and methodology for this National Rolling Open Market Review

During the NR OMR, BDUK categorised premises as Gigabit White, Grey, Black or Under Review.

Subsidy control classifications are set out below:

• White - indicates premises with no gigabit network infrastructure and none is likely to be developed within 3 years ^{[footnote 1]}
• Grey - indicates premises where a single qualifying gigabit infrastructure from a single supplier is available, or is to be deployed within the coming 3 years ^{[footnote 1]}
• Black - indicates premises with two or more qualifying gigabit infrastructures from different suppliers being available, or will be deployed within the coming 3 years ^{[footnote 1]}
• Under Review - indicates premises where suppliers have reported current or planned commercial broadband coverage, but where claimed current gigabit coverage has not been verified, or, in respect of planned build, where evaluators are confident that gigabit infrastructure will be delivered, but some risks to delivery remain, or there are some gaps in evidence

BDUK will only provide subsidy to target premises that have been designated as White. Premises which have been designated as Under Review may be included within the Deferred Scope of a procurement. Where this is the case, a further review will be undertaken to confirm whether they are Grey or White before they are released for build.

In accordance with the OMR/PR processes, supplier data submitted during the NR OMR has been mapped using a methodology that protects commercially sensitive supplier data.

3. Summary of September 2023 National Rolling Open Market Review findings - premises eligibility

For presentational purposes only, postcode-level mapping has been used to present the NR OMR regional maps showing eligible premises. (NB we will only subsidise build to premises which have been designated as White - postcodes are not used to determine IAs for subsidy).

For this purpose, postcodes have been classified as follows:

1. A postcode is White if any White premises are present

2. A postcode is Under Review if any Under Review premises are present

3. A postcode is Black if all premises in the postcode are classified Black

4. A postcode is Grey if all premises are Grey, or a mixture of Grey and Black

The September 2023 NR OMR postcode-level maps summarising these premises classifications have been provided on the September NR OMR homepage. Suppliers - please note that these maps do not show which Unique Property Reference Number (UPRNs) have been determined as White and Under Review.

The outcome of the September 2023 NR OMR is summarised in terms of White, Grey, Black and Under Review postcodes and premises below which incorporates all regions across England only.

Postcode classification	Number of postcodes	Number of gigabit Black premises	Number of gigabit Grey premises	Number of gigabit Under Review premises	Number of gigabit White premises
White	402,824	452,242	1,953,936	1,465,395	2,597,212
Under Review	392,892	397,104	2,053,881	4,231,107	-
Grey	612,887	2,921,101	9,721,607	-	-
Black	226,123	4,732,185	-	-	-
Total	1,634,726	8,502,632	13,729,424	5,696,502	2,597,212

4. Differences between National Rolling Open Market Review and Public Review outcome classifications

The data submitted to the NR OMR will continue to be processed in the same way as that submitted to previous local OMRs and will be used for mapping categorisations of UPRNs. This will generally be fed into a PR process for new areas. However, If BDUK receives new data for UPRNs which have been the subject of a previous PR determination, if it meets the evidential requirements, BDUK may use NR OMR data to update the previous areas by area PR determinations at our own discretion.

5. September 2023 National Rolling Open Market Review Conclusion

For the purposes of the September 2023 NR OMR, BDUK was pleased to invite all suppliers to submit a response for consideration.

The September 2023 NR OMR outputs have been provided via separate files geographically broken down by Project Gigabit Lots.

The Lot-region output splits within each file are outlined below:

• East Midlands (Lots 3, 10, 11 and 12)
• East of England (Lots 2, 5, 7 and 21)
• Greater London (Lot 37)
• North East (Lots 4 and 38)
• North West (Lots 9, 17, 28 and 36)
• South East (Lots 1, 13, 16, 22, 26, 27, 29 and 99*)
• South West (Lots 6, 14, 18, 30 and 32)
• Wales (Lots 42, 43, 44 and 45)
• West Midlands (Lots 15, 19, 24, 25 and 35)
• Yorkshire and the Humber (Lots 8, 20, 23 and 31)

[* Lot 99 is a pseudo Lot allocated for the Isle of Wight]

Please see our latest Project Gigabit update for further details on Project Gigabit procurement timelines along with Project Gigabit Contracts for details of contracts awarded by BDUK.

The January 2024 iteration of the NR OMR closed on 23 February 2024. BDUK are currently undertaking initial evaluation activities of supplier responses.

Please see the January 2024 NR OMR Request For Information document for further details.

If you have any questions on the NR OMR process, please contact us at ukgigabit@bduk.zendesk.com.

Disclaimer

This information has been published (i) in accordance with the Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy guidance: transparency (monitoring and reporting) which sets out transparency requirements for BDUK, local bodies and suppliers in relation to the Gigabit Infrastructure Subsidy scheme (GIS); and (ii) as part of a continuous Open Market Review and Public Review process under the GIS. It contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 and has been informed by information provided by other third parties (including suppliers) which is subject to change. Whilst this information was believed to be accurate at the time it was published, DSIT (including BDUK) does not and cannot warrant or guarantee its accuracy and accepts no liability for any losses that may arise from any use of, or reliance on, this information. External organisations, such as suppliers and local bodies, are advised to seek their own legal advice if they wish to use or rely on this information.

1. There may be occasions where credible plans extend beyond a 3-year period, in that case, these may be taken into account. ↩ ↩² ↩³