Buckinghamshire UK Make it Costly to Deploy Full Fibre Broadband

Smaller alternative network ISPs like Ecom are facing a new barrier to expanding the rural reach of ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP/H) based broadband networks in Buckinghamshire (England), which follows the council’s expansion of rules that make it harder to get a Streetworks license.

Last year we reported that Ecom had been quietly building their Gigabit capable “full fibre” broadband network to several rural villages in the Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire, such as Dunton, through Creslow and on to Whitchurch (here). Previously the ISP had only focused on business connectivity and in 2014 they helped to build a pure fibre optic network to serve a business park in Newport Pagnell.

However the Managing Director of Ecom, Chris Wilkie, has claimed that his ISP now faces a new challenge, which appears to have been introduced after last year’s failure of the Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) supported Aylesbury Vale Broadband project (here). AVB was eventually sold (assets / network) to Gigaclear for an undisclosed sum and a related inquiry is due to report soon.

Local reports claim that Buckinghamshire council now requires a bond to be established before work can begin on a highway. The money is held in security for “no less than 2 years” to cover against any potential problems that might occur with the civil engineering, which is on top of the expensive £3 per metre the county already charges to complete their paperwork.

Councillor Mark Shaw said (here):

“The requirement for a bond for work on the highway is a long standing practice that has been extended to cover the increasing amount of work undertaken across the county by private providers.

The application of the bond is relatively new and reflects the number of relatively small companies now seeking to install ducts and the like to provide broadband services to those settlements that BT Openreach have determined unsustainable.

The bond was not introduced as a direct consequence of working with AVB.”

Unfortunately the bond is already having a negative impact, not least in respect to Ecom’s earlier pledge to provide a free connection to the Whitchurch Combined School, where slow connectivity has been a big problem. At present the operator’s fibre is on the other side of the road and Chris warns that the new rule “essentially doubles the cost of installing the fibre.”

Chris says that the rule is “hamstringing small businesses,” which also occurs at a time when the government is trying to encourage more FTTP/H networks across the UK and is in the process of considering how best to further boost this. Clearly adding yet more red tape and charges at local level may not help that ambition.

Nevertheless the council notes that Ecom’s deployment is still part of the company’s overall commercial business and the requirements would be the same for any business in a similar situation. On the other hand if local authorities make it too expensive to conduct such work commercially then they may end up needing to pay more later when further state aid is required to do the same job.