Hayton Council Criticises Wireless ISP for Broadband Overbuild Snafu

The Hayton Parish Council in Cumbria has criticised local wireless ISP Solway Communications after the provider allegedly failed to honour a pledge to withdraw its claim on a number of postcodes in the Parish, which has prevented Openreach (BT) from building a new “fibre broadband” (FTTC) cabinet in the area.

The situation appears to be related to the story that we ran last Friday, which saw residents of another Cumbrian community (Welton) complain that they too had been excluded from the county’s state aid supported Connecting Cumbria project because Solway’s network was already alleged to be available in the area (here).

At the time Solway, which does offer a 30Mbps residential family package on their website, acknowledged that they didn’t cover the area and blamed the local authority. Solway claimed that they only informed the council of their antennae locations and capacities and did not determine what areas would be represented by BDUK.

Nick Kittoe, MD of Solway, said:

“The maps which BDUK’s management consultants produced for this purpose are, in our opinion and that of our independent radio-propagation consultants – both of which we have expressed vociferously – wrong as to method, based on incorrect assumptions and, therefore, largely valueless.”

The situation in Hayton appears to be very similar and it’s claimed by the local authority that Solway made a commitment to withdraw the related postcodes in March 2016, which was announced as part of a meeting that had been organised by Connecting Cumbria and Government’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) programme.

However the Hayton Parish Council complains that this still has not happened and that they are thus again at risk of being overlook for a fibre broadband upgrade. Under rules governing the superfast broadband roll-out, state subsidies cannot be applied to the roll-out in areas where a qualifying service is already claimed, and Cabinet no.3 is caught by this rule.

The parish council further claims that a survey was then undertaken to understand the extent of the problem, which “found that almost 75% of properties surveyed were likely to be unable to receive a Superfast broadband service from Solway Communications“.

Raymond Tinnion, Parish Council Chairman, told ISPreview.co.uk:

“The position we’re in is extremely frustrating. The survey suggested a majority of properties can’t receive a Superfast broadband service, yet they are prevented from benefiting under the Connecting Cumbria initiative because Solway Communications still claims to serve their postcodes.

We felt reassured by Mr Kittoe’s agreement at our meeting in March that he would act to rescind his claim if evidence was forthcoming that these properties couldn’t be served by his company. Having had that evidence presented, we are now asking him to honour his pledge without further delay.

Rural Cumbria faces many challenges, and the provision of a modern and capable communication infrastructure is a vital part of ensuring that the Parish’s businesses remain competitive and our communities are viable and attractive for the future.”

One way or another the situation will need to be resolved soon because the next phase of Connecting Cumbria’s project is imminent and the window for inclusion is rapidly closing.