The regulator says it wants to make the process of switching broadband providers easier and cheaper, and reduce the minimum length of contracts. 

It also wants more competition in to the industry, so that savings made by providers will be passed on to consumers.

Under the proposals, the wholesale cost of switching a customer from one superfast broadband supplier to another would fall by up to 80%.

Currently, providers who use BT’s superfast Openreach network have to shell out £50 every time they switch a customer on to their service, a charge that is often passed on to the customer.

The minimum length of the wholesale contract between BT and the switched customer’s new supplier would be reduced from a year to just one month.

Dominic Baliszewski, telecoms expert at broadbandchoices.co.uk, said: “Fibre is the future of broadband in the UK so it is important that, as availability increases, customers are not still hindered from using it by hefty up-front costs and needlessly lengthy contracts. Consumers repeatedly tell us they think switching broadband is too much hassle, so Ofcom’s new measures should hopefully make things a lot easier for them.

“As the fibre roll out continues across the UK we are slowly overcoming the problem of lack of availability, which has to date been the biggest hurdle stopping customers from accessing superfast broadband. Ofcom’s proposals help address this, and we expect to see the number of households able to get superfast services to increase considerably over the next 12-18 months.

“However it’s not the case consumers will miraculously receive this service – it is vital they research what is available to them and look at switching when they can.”