 Instead, Ofcom decided that Openreach should cease to be a functional division of BT and instead become a legally separate company within the BT group, something which Ofcom said could "be implemented within months".On 29 November 2016 Ofcom ordered BT to legally separate its Openreach division, with Openreach becoming a distinct company within the BT group.Ofcom said that the competition concerns that it had identified in July had not been voluntarily addressed by BT in the interim.