Openreach Trial Fibre Infrastructure Pre-build with Comms Providers

Openreach (BT) is to trial a new UK Fibre Infrastructure Pre-Build product for Communication Providers (ISPs etc.), which a briefing says will “allow them to start the fibre infrastructure build in parallel to their own site or network readiness.”

The new solution appears to be based off the existing Network In Advance product. NIA supports the delivery of connectivity to sites in locations which are “remote from existing fibre network or that present additional route challenges in reaching the site … It’s a project managed service where the [providers] can request that Openreach build off-site network (duct infrastructure and fibre delivery) in advance of placing a formal product order.”

The advantage of NIA, which was launched in June 2017 at a cost of £1,750, is that it allows providers to remove from the projects’ critical path, the delays associated with finalising the site design and wayleaves (land/building access agreements) and so “de-risk the overall delivery“. But in order to take NIA the site has to be of a certain size (e.g. must have more than 100m of duct and / or 1000m of cabling).

By comparison we understand that the new trial will focus on offering a cheaper NIA type product (likely to be around the £1,000 mark) that can be used where only minimal fibre build is required, which will be called NIA – Simple. Naturally any communications provider that takes such a solution will follow it by later ordering one of Openreach’s Ethernet (EAD) or other fibre optic (OSA) data services.

The trial is due to begin in February 2019 and run for three months. At present this is still all about learning and testing, with the usual caveat being that the final solution may change; assuming there’s enough industry appetite for it to be turned into a product.