BT could fold its Wholesale business into Openreach if the plan is approved by Ofcom.
The Telegraph has reported that BT Group has appealed to comms regulator Ofcom for permission for BT Wholesale, which recorded sales of £2.4bn last year, to become part of Openreach.
If the move is approved the enlarged Openreach would become BT’s biggest business with a turnover of approximately £7.5bn.
The move would bring the Group substantial savings through the removal of administration functions set-up to facilitate the operation of two separate entities.
The Wholesale business has declined from £4bn three years ago with shrinkage attributed in part to price controls set by Ofcom.
Adept Chief Executive Ian Fishwick commented: "I can see how BT would save money by merging Openreach and BT Wholesale, but we need to recognise that BTW also sell non-regulated products and this would need careful consideration when regulatory cost calculations are being done.
"Any proposal to merge the two would need to be very carefully scrutinised as the devil is very much in the boring detail. We should also keep in mind that Openreach still hasn't fixed its service quality issues and a merger could be a huge distraction."