UPDATE Footpath Fix for Sky Broadband and TalkTalk’s York FTTH Rollout

Deploying a new ultrafast (940Mbps capable) fibre optic broadband network in urban areas is never easy, as demonstrated by Cityfibre’s joint roll-out of a new Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P) service with Sky Broadband and TalkTalk in York where some areas could need corrective work.

The new service, which Thinkbroadband separately suggests could begin to take its first REAL orders from Monday 21st September 2015 (this is not quite correct, we’re told it’s actually the date when they begin connecting trial users), is currently being deployed out to 20,000 premises as part of Phase One (leaving around 60,000 in the City yet to be covered); mostly in the northern half of the city (here).

Previously the project has touted its use of cheaper deployment methods, such as micro-trenching and overhead fibre optic cables, which can be used to speed-up the network roll-out, cut costs and minimise disruption.

Similarly an update posted by TalkTalk a few months ago said, “Early indications of build costs are proving to be in line with our target of under £500 per home passed“. Now that’s cheap for an FTTH/P network, but this doesn’t yet appear to include the sometimes tedious connection into homes.

Unfortunately street works often attract angry reactions from residents, as BTOpenreach’s deployment of FTTC/P solutions have so often demonstrated, and so it’s with little surprise that we learn of similar frustrations affecting parts of the FTTH/P roll-out in York (here).

Apparently several areas, such as St Mark’s Grove, Bilsdale Close, Staindale Close, Troutsdale Avenue, Wellesley Close, Surrey Way, Melton Avenue and Shipton Road (Rawcliffe and Clifton) have attracted related concerns.

Cllr Sam Lisle said:

“Whilst we welcome this fantastic investment in the community we must make sure that the work is carried out respectfully and to acceptable standards. Both the Council and City Fibre have been prompt in responding to the issues we have raised with them so far, and we are pleased that remedial work will be undertaken on St Mark’s Grove, Bilsdale Close, Staindale Close and Troutsdale Avenue.”

Thankfully the local councillors, such as Stuart Rawlings, Sam Lisle and Peter Dew, appear to be hard on the case (here) and hopefully the other areas will also benefit from any remedial works, should they be deemed necessary.

The details are thin but they appear to concern general problems with the state of the pavements post-work, not to mention issues with piles of rubble and exposed trenches. ISPreview.co.uk further understands that the council has decided to resurface some pavements in the area, independent of the work Cityfibre are carrying out.

Problems like this are to be expected and no fibre optic developer is immune to such issues, yet the important thing is that Cityfibre and the council appear to be constructive in tackling them when they crop up. The biggest question though is how much allowance has been made in the budget for such issues and whether this will impact their cost models.

UPDATE 30th September 2015

The York Press is reporting of similar problems around the Clifton Moor Estate, which has seen residents complaining about the time it’s taking to complete the work and echoing the same concerns as those expressed above. One individual, Steve Oxbrow of Lindley Avenue, even witnessed a young child crash into an unmarked plastic manhole covering one of the trenches as she rode along the pavement on her scooter.

Mr Oxbrow said, “They dig holes then leave them for weeks on end … the whole estate is one big mess and I’ve been in touch with the council to see if there is anything they can do to move them on because we’ve had enough of it. It’s not going to be worth the hassle of having broadband and I hope no-one else is having to go through what we’ve been through.”

But as we know from the original article, other areas have indeed been making similar complaints. Meanwhile Cityfibre apologised, again, for the delay and a spokesperson blamed it on “the breakdown of an essential piece of machinery.” Apparently the contractors, McNicholas, are now aiming to complete the remaining work in the next few days and Cityfibre has also promised to investigate the safety concerns.