Berkshire UK Coughs to Openreach and Gigaclear Broadband Delays UPDATE2

The cries of “oh no, not another one!” can already be heard today as the Superfast Berkshire project in England joins others in confirming that their roll-out of fibre-based broadband ISP networks – via both Gigaclear and Openreach (BT) – will face a significant delay in the county (affecting both Phase 2 and 3 contracts).

So far we’ve already run reports on the delays being seen in other Gigaclear contracts (e.g. here), although the issue in Berkshire extends to include Openreach (BT) too. Until now the local state aid supported project had expected to push the overall level of “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) coverage in the county to 99.6% of premises by the end of 2019 (currently 97%).

The above target was supported last year by the signing of two new contracts (Phase 3). Firstly, Gigaclear agreed to roll-out their 1Gbps FTTP network to cover an additional 6,100 premises in East Berkshire. Secondly, Openreach said they would deploy a mix of FTTP and FTTC to reach a further 7,400 premises.

Unfortunately the project has now been forced to admit that a “lack of engineering capacity in the broadband industry and the rapid expansion of commitments on the relative newcomer Gigaclear” means that both suppliers are now “unable to meet their original contractual delivery targets in Berkshire“.

State of the Delay

* Gigaclear’s phase 2 delivery, in West Berkshire, scheduled for completion by October 2017 is now forecast for May 2019, 20 months behind schedule, with 1,530 of 16,011 premises still awaiting their fibre broadband connections.

* Gigaclear’s phase 3 delivery, for Berkshire, scheduled for completion by September 2019 is now forecast for December 2019, 3 months behind schedule.

* BT’s phase 3 delivery, for Berkshire, scheduled for completion by December 2018 is now forecast for December 2019, 12 months behind schedule.

Oddly the statement includes an apology from Gigaclear, but not Openreach, although we have just asked the latter for a comment and will report back below in an update when they respond.

Mike Surrey, CEO at Gigaclear plc, said:

“Gigaclear apologises for delays encountered with these deliveries, we are confident that under new ownership and with a new management team in place we will work with the Superfast Berkshire team to complete these projects without further operational delays, delivering Ultrafast broadband to all the properties in our contracted areas.”

Dominic Boeck, West Berkshire’s Executive Member for Broadband, said:

“We’re working closely with both suppliers to minimise these delays and to meet the broadband expectations of our communities.

We’ve also experienced quality issues with some of the engineering works already completed by Gigaclear during their phase 2 rollout and we expect that this remedial work will take at least 18 months to complete and will start in November 2018. This will be a separate programme and it should not slow down the rollout of remaining phase 2 broadband connections nor affect those customers whose connections are already live on Gigaclear’s network.

Any extra programme costs associated with this late delivery and other remedial works will be borne by the contractors and will not come from public funds.”

The fact that we’ve now had to report on big delays for several counties, including Berkshire, Northamptonshire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Devon and Somerset does not bode well for the Government’s related Broadband Delivery UK programme, which had been expecting that “superfast broadband” coverage could reach at least 98% of the UK by the end of 2020.

At the current rate of deployment 98% still seems to be achievable for the UK but doubts may be cast if the problems spread even further (lower coverage may also have an impact on the cost of the 10Mbps+ USO).

So far most of the problems have stemmed from Gigaclear’s contracts, although Openreach clearly are not immune and being 12 months behind schedule is not a small problem. We should point out that many of these later stage contracts focus on “full fibre” FTTP, which is a lot more expensive, complex and slower to deploy than cheaper hybrid fibre solutions.

UPDATE 2:55pm

Openreach has now kindly supplied a comment.

An Openreach Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk

“Good progress continues to be made through our partnership with Superfast Berkshire to make superfast broadband available across some of the most rural parts of the county. Delivery is undoubtedly more challenging as we move into the latter stages of the programme and some of the hardest to reach areas, but we remain committed to working together with the Superfast Berkshire team, LEP and combined councils.

After delivering Contract 1, covering around 24,000 homes and businesses, under budget and ahead of schedule, we acknowledge we’re behind on where we should be on Contract 3. But a plan agreed with the council is already in place that will take us through to work finishing at the end of next year.”

UPDATE 26th October 2018

Another comment, this time from Glide.

James Warner, Director of Sales and Marketing, Glide Business, said:

“While it’s disappointing to hear of the Superfast Berkshire delays, it’s not all doom and gloom. We’ve been able to deliver almost all our planned BDUK commitment to Berkshire and have 56 cabinets live across the region, in areas which have long been neglected by previous providers.

Investing in our own infrastructure means we are not dependent on others to deploy fibre which has numerous advantages – the most obvious being the speed at which we can operate and the fact we aren’t reliant on any external funding. Our priority in the region will continue to be liberating business parks and industrial estates from poor broadband speeds; empowering them to grow with world class connectivity, while strengthening the regional economy.”

Take note that Glide aren’t part of the aforementioned SFB contracts and are primarily focused upon serving local businesses.