Openreach has upgraded its wholesale optical portfolio so that a single wavelength can now carry up to 1.6 terabits per second — double the previous top figure — with pre-order quotes available immediately and formal orders opening on 16 September 2026. The change was set out in Openreach’s communications provider briefing ETH029/26, published on 18 August 2026, and reported independently by ISPreview on 19 August 2026.
For consumers, nothing changes today: this is a wholesale, business-to-business product bought by data centres and network operators, not a retail SIM or broadband tariff. But it is a useful marker of how the capacity underneath UK mobile and fixed networks is being scaled.
What Openreach announced
The upgrade sits within Openreach’s Optical Spectrum Extended Access (OSEA) portfolio, which sells high-capacity point-to-point optical connectivity between sites. According to the ETH029/26 briefing, the new option is built on a compact 2RU chassis — 88.9mm of vertical rack space — that can house up to four WaveServer modules and support up to eight 1.6Tb wavelengths.
ISPreview reports that this works out at up to 12.8Tbps of aggregate wavelength capacity per chassis, or up to 32 × 400GE client interfaces. The same report notes that the existing OSEA solution, based on Ciena’s WaveServer and WaveLogic optical platform, previously offered up to 800Gbps per card over a single wavelength. The headline improvement is therefore a doubling of per-wavelength capacity within roughly the same physical footprint.
Openreach’s briefing states that updated product documentation and Suppliers Information Note 514 accompany the launch.
Pricing and timing
Openreach’s briefing itself points to Access Charge Change Notice OR1121 for the commercial terms rather than listing prices inline. ISPreview reports the connection charge for a 1.6Tbps wavelength as £16,500 excluding VAT, with an annual rental of £2,700 across either a 36-month or 60-month term.
On timing, the briefing confirms two distinct dates. Pre-order designs and quotes became available on 18 August 2026 — so operators can start scoping deployments now — while orders can only be placed from 16 September 2026. That makes this a live product announcement rather than a speculative roadmap item, though the first services will not be ordered for roughly another month.
Why it matters for mobile users
OSEA is not a mobile product, and Openreach has not linked this announcement to any consumer service. The connection is indirect but real: the kind of high-capacity links OSEA sells are the sort of infrastructure operators use between core sites and data centres, and mobile traffic growth is one of the pressures driving demand for more capacity between those sites.
It is worth being precise about the limits of what has been confirmed. Openreach has not published any distance or route detail for the 1.6Tbps option in the material reviewed here, has not named which communications providers intend to take it, and has not indicated any effect on retail pricing. Anyone reading this as a signal about future consumer speeds should treat it as background rather than evidence.
What to watch next
The practical test will be uptake after 16 September. OSEA competes for the same customers as other wholesale and dark-fibre options, and pricing at £16,500 connection plus £2,700 per year positions it firmly at the hyperscale and carrier end of the market rather than at regional ISPs.
For SimFinder readers comparing UK SIM plans, there is no action to take. Consumer tariffs, allowances and network quality scores are unaffected by this announcement, and we will only revisit it if Openreach or a retail provider connects the capacity upgrade to a customer-facing change.
Sources: Openreach communications provider briefing ETH029/26 (18 August 2026) and ISPreview (19 August 2026).