Forums and working groups

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Have your say in how the industry meets its customers’ needs

We use industry forums and working groups to share information with you, our customers, and other stakeholders, and to encourage closer collaboration. 

By joining in, you can help make things better for your customers and the communications industry as a whole. You’ll inform how we bring new products to market, share information and influence important decisions.

How to get involved

To see the forum pages and collaboration areas, you’ll need to log in to the Openreach portal. If you’re not signed up yet, you can register.

Industry forum calendar

Find out when and where our industry forum meetings happen.

Forums and working groups

  • Copper and fibre access forums

    Copper and fibre access forums 

    These forums represent a collection of industry bodies. They give you and other stakeholders the chance to work with us to develop products and services fit for the future. They also help us improve existing ones.

    1. Copper and fibre products commercial group

    This group lets you share your views with us on the commercial, product and development aspects of our copper, ultrafast fibre access and superfast fibre access portfolios. If you want to ask for a change to copper or fibre products, you’ll need to present it to this group. 

    Contact: Alison Walpole, alison.walpole@openreach.co.uk

    2. Copper and fibre products process group

    This group is responsible for developing processes that support our copper ultrafast fibre access and superfast fibre access portfolios. 

    Contact: Alison Walpole, alison.walpole@openreach.co.uk

    3. Service management forum

    This forum looks after service management, as well as processes and policy relating to our copper (WLR/LLU) and NGA portfolios, including FTTC and FTTP. 

    Contact: Jeff Pilkington-Birch, jeff.e.birch@openreach.co.uk

    4. Test and diagnostics forum

    This forum is responsible for our copper and fibre test and diagnostic platforms. 

    Contacts: Gerard Powis and Paul Sadd, gerard.powis@openreach.co.uk, paul.r.sadd@openreach.co.uk

    5. Copper and fibre solution development forum

    This forum is responsible for sharing the development of IT solutions for our copper, ultrafast and superfast fibre access portfolios, and delivering those solutions to the equivalence management platform (EMP). It lets you give feedback, collaborate with us, and explore the changes and impact on your business. 

    Contact: Giovani Salemi, giovani.salemi@openreach.co.uk

    6. Copper and fibre technical communication forum

    We regularly improve the equivalence management platform (EMP) which supports our copper, ultrafast fibre access and superfast fibre access portfolios. This forum outlines the changes we’ve committed to in EMP releases and provides technical information about them. 

    Contact: Giovani Salemi, giovani.salemi@openreach.co.uk

    Copper and fibre collaboration area – we use these collaboration areas to tell you about milestones and share documents.

  • Industry billing forum

    Industry billing forum

    This monthly forum lets you discuss billing issues with us. We share billing reviews that are already happening, as well as anything else that might affect billing. 

    We also report on billing accuracy for TRCs, AVCs, SFI2 and SFVA for NGA, LLU and WLR products. And the forum lets you tell us about common billing problems so we can investigate them.

    Contact: Lindsay Waters, lindsay.waters@openreach.co.uk

  • Ethernet services forums

    Ethernet services forums

    Our Ethernet forums let you shape thinking about our Ethernet services, and set the direction for these key products.

    1. Ethernet process group

    Discuss process matters that affect our Ethernet services portfolio. This group is part of the OTA (Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator) scheme. 

    Contact: Toby Gibbard, toby.gibbard@openreach.co.uk

    2. Ethernet product and commercial group 

    This group discusses commercial and product issues that affect our Ethernet services. It’s part of the OTA (Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator) scheme. 

    Contact: Toby Gibbard, toby.gibbard@openreach.co.uk

    3. Ethernet service forum

    This forum looks at service management and policies that affect Ethernet services. 

    Contact: Kate Partridge, kate.partridge@openreach.co.uk

    4. Ethernet requirements impact assessment (RIA) forum

    This forum looks at complex requirements and explores potential solutions. 

    Contact: Tania Easton, tania.easton@openreach.co.uk

    5. Ethernet high level design review (HLDR) forum

    This forum takes an early look at planned Ethernet solution designs, and offers chances to contribute and collaborate. 

    Contact: Tania Easton, tania.easton@openreach.co.uk

    6. Ethernet solution development forum

    This forum is responsible for sharing the development of IT solutions of our Ethernet services and delivering those solutions to the equivalence management platform (EMP). Through it, you can give feedback, collaborate with us, and better understand the changes and impact on your business. 

    Contact: Tania Easton, tania.easton@openreach.co.uk

    7. Ethernet technical communication forum

    We regularly improve the equivalence management platform (EMP) which supports our Ethernet products. This forum outlines the changes we’ve committed to in EMP releases and provides technical information about them. 

    Contact: Tania Easton, tania.easton@openreach.co.uk

  • Infrastructure services forum

    Infrastructure services forum

    This forum covers the latest developments and proposals for exchange-based infrastructure products (PoPs and tie cables), plus specific market development initiatives. It’s also a platform for discussing future opportunities and commercial concerns which affect our industry. The forum is open to senior people from communications providers involved in the operational process and development of exchange-based infrastructure solutions.

    Contact: Umais Manzoor, umais.manzoor@openreach.co.uk

  • Physical infrastructure access product commercial group (PIA PCG)

    Physical infrastructure access product commercial group (PIA PCG)

    The PIA PCG lets you share your views on the commercial, product and development aspects of our duct and pole infrastructure. If you want to ask for a change to our PIA products or processes, you’ll need to present it to this group. The group used to be known as the physical infrastructure access industry working group, or PIA IWG, before it became a commercial group.

    See the terms of reference, documentation, minutes and slide packs.

    Contact: Caroline Tindall, caroline.tindall@openreach.co.uk

Working groups

Information on upcoming Openreach working groups.

1. Dark Fibre X industry working group

After Ofcom’s Business Connectivity Market Review statement, we’re hosting a series of workshops to talk about implementing Dark Fibre X (DFX) and its associated reference offer. 

Contact: Hardi Al-Wardi