Physical infrastructure access (PIA)
You can share our existing duct and pole infrastructure to provide Public Electronic Communications Services and/or Public Electronic Communications Network (as set out in Ofcom’s statement in June 2019).
How it works
There are two products – one for ducts, and one for poles.
You’ll need to follow our engineering principles and health and safety standards for any work you do.
Exchange access with Cablelink
You might also be interested in Cablelink, where we pull in your cable from our physical infrastructure to your points of presence (PoP) in the exchange. Find out more.
National availability
Our infrastructure covers the length and breadth of the country. So you can choose the geographies that best suit your network roll-out plans.
Save time
As our infrastructure already exists, you can build and expand your fibre network much more quickly than doing it yourself from scratch.
See details of PIA infrastructure we’ve built with state aid from the public sector.
Find out more about PIA, how it works and how it can help your customers.
Find out more about PIA, how it works and how it can help your customers.
How-to guides for using Openreach products.
These documents show the physical characteristics of the plant you can install in our network. We’ve tried to give you as many options as we can. But we do have to make sure that different parties working on the network don’t cause risks to each other.
The engineering principles show the standards you’ll need to follow when you’re working on the Openreach network.
Please take the time to read and understand all the documents that apply to your build.
Capitalised terms used in the statement below are defined in our standard terms and conditions for Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) the current version of which is available on or via www.openreach.co.uk
The ‘Overhead Power Glove Box Guide” (“the Guide”) is owned by BT, contains BT Confidential Information and is provided to Customers of PIA for information purposes only and solely to help Customers deal with actual or potential safety and other risks when using poles as part of PIA. Please note this information is not complete or up-to-date so please use with caution. The availability of the Guide does not remove the need for Customers to undertake a full risk assessment in accordance with Good Industry Practice prior to commencing any work on or in our Physical Infrastructure . Customers must also ensure that Customer Personnel are fully trained, qualified and are properly accredited (as set out in the PIA terms and conditions) to conduct such risk assessments and identify and take the appropriate steps and precautions with regards to any risks to health and safety. Customers are also reminded of the need to comply with all of the terms of the PIA contract including those relating to health and safety, the Engineering Principles and the Accreditation Guidelines and the need to comply with all Applicable Laws and best practice including but not limited to those relating to health and safety when doing any work on or in our Network
We use these documents to accredit people working on our network. This is to make sure they meet the right standards, and that they’re able to carry out the work in line with our engineering principles.
We work hard to maintain the quality of our network for all our customers. And one of the ways we do this is by auditing the work you’re doing as part of your PIA order. This document tells you more about this.
We have a standardised process which we use to tell you about product releases. It’s called external information points (EIP). Find out more.
“Access network risks” is a summary of generic risk assessments we use for operations. It shows the safety issues you must manage to keep our staff and the general public safe, and to make sure you don’t damage our networks. It doesn’t show all the safety aspects you (and your suppliers) must follow though – it concentrates on things that affect other parties. We assume you’ll take full responsibility for the safety of your own people.
You can use this tool to search for a location and see the ducts and structures which are already there.
You can find information about using this site, advice on services and help with your account on our help and support pages.
Are you interested in having a say in how the industry meets its customers’ needs? You can find out more about getting involved on our industry forum pages.
You’ll need to be logged in to your Openreach account to see these. If you’re not registered yet, you can sign up.