British Telecomproposed to appoint an independent board and chairman for its unit Openreach ina bid to prevent breaking up the group and to placate rivals, Reuters reported July25.

BT's rivals, including Skyplc, TalkTalk TelecomGroup PLC and VodafoneGroup Plc, reportedly claim that an Openreach spinoff will result inbetter broadband connections. BT opposes this, claiming that it could invest innew technology during the economic downturn by holding Openreach within the group.

BT has been criticized for years by rivals who accuse it of underinvestingin the national network, which in turn is used by all broadband and telecoms servicesproviders. The British telecom watchdog Ofcom is set to reveal a of Openreach on July 26, butwill stop short of a fullseparation.