Openreach Extend SOGEA Standalone FTTC Broadband Product Trial UPDATE

Openreach has decided to extend the UK ISP trial phase for their new Single Order Generic Ethernet Access (SOGEA) product until 1st October 2018, which will one day enable consumers to buy a standalone FTTC “fibre broadband” (VDSL2 or G.fast) line without the voice (phone) service.

The existing trial has already gone on for a fair bit longer than expected (here), which was partly because some providers needed more time for testing and preparation (it’s a big change for them). We had been expecting that the 3rd trial phase would come to an end on 30th May 2018 but instead it’s today been given a several month extension to October (here).

In other words, the final pilot phase won’t now commence until late 2018 and a commercial launch is thus more likely to occur during the first half of 2019 instead of in 2018.

Statement

We’re happy to confirm an extended CP trial for the new Single Order GEA and Single Order GFast products and associated free of charge pricing (transactions and rental charges set at £0). The CP Trial provides a trial opportunity for CPs to test the latest deployment and technology capabilities and capture learnings and customer experiences of the Fulfilment and Assurance order journeys.

A SOGEA and SOGFast pilot will commence following a successful trial outcome (estimated pilot start is 1 October 2018). Connection and rental charges for trial orders placed during the trial period will be free of charge. Rental charges will remain free of charge beyond the trial period until at least 30 December 2018.

We’ll update Industry later in the year with information for pilot and launch pricing.

SOGEA represents a different approach to broadband provision from what we’ve seen before. Previously consumers had to buy their phone service alongside line rental and then FTTC broadband was optionally added on top. Today few people use their landline for making phone calls and thus SOGEA reverses the aforementioned approach, making it possible to buy a copper line just for broadband.

Consumers will of course still be able to add the voice feature as an optional add-on. In theory this could produce a cost saving for those who don’t take the phone (voice) component but in practice any savings would be tiny because most of the cost is still in the core line rental and broadband delivery side.

The service also introduces a new front plate for the latest NTE5C Master Socket, which where necessary is designed to prevent analogue voice being reinjected onto Openreach’s network from the end users premises (SOGEA’s technical details). All of this will help to support a future direction where voice calling is largely handled by VoIP.

NOTE: Some ISPs have cleverly managed to hack together a similar sort of product where you can buy a line without the analogue voice calls component (i.e. just for broadband), although Openreach’s SOGEA solution should simplify things and do it correctly.

UPDATE 3rd May 2018

A couple of readers wanted to know where the trials are taking place. I’ve written these before but here’s a reminder..

SOGEA over VDSL2 Locations:

Technical Trial –
* Swansea, Ipswich, Brentwood (TBC), Thurso, Newcastle, Leeds

CP Trial 1 –
* London
* North West (Manchester, Merseyside)
* Midlands (Birmingham)
* Yorkshire (Leeds, York)
* Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh)

CP Trial 2 & 3 –
Limited exchanges, on application, in:
* Technical Trial areas
* CP Trial 1 areas
* Colchester & Ipswich
* Northumberland and Wearside
* Romford
* Southern London

Pilot Locations –
* North East General Manager’s Area
* East Anglia General Manager’s Area
* South East General Manager’s Area