Alternative full fibre UK broadband ISP Trooli (CallFlow), which is supported by €30m from European investors (here) and aims to cover 500,000 premises across the South East of England by the end of 2024, has grown their network coverage to 10,000 premises and been awarded Path to Collaboration (PTC) by Openreach (BT).
At the last update in June the provider had managed to extend their Gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to reach 6,000 homes and businesses. Most of their initial build at that point was occurring around Kings Hill, Kate Reed Wood, Paddock Wood and Hawking in Kent, as well as Ropley and Bramdean in Hampshire.
Since the above work they’ve been able to add another 4,000 premises (total of c.10,000) to their full fibre coverage, which largely reflects the completion of a second tranche of their roll-out plan in West Malling, Leybourne, Ryarsh and Coxheath across Kent. Pretty good for four months work by a smaller provider.
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The ISP and its parent, CallFlow, have also just become one of the first providers to be awarded with the Path To Collaboration (PTC) status for Openreach’s Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) Network Adjustments. PIA enables alternative network providers to harness OR’s existing cable ducts and poles in order to run their own optical fibre, which is something that the ISP has been doing for several years.
Christine McCabe, Trooli Network Planning Director, said:
“The award of PIA collaboration status by Openreach is a major milestone in the development of Trooli’s build capabilities. It has been great working with the Openreach team, who have been very supportive through the whole process. Path to collaboration is a milestone for Trooli because it cements the relationship we have developed with the OR team and puts us in a position of trust.
We no longer have to wait for field validation once our network adjustment has passed desktop approval, (subject to an audit sample), and this will improve efficiency and allow us to streamline our processes. We look forward to becoming slicker whilst still meeting the required standards for Self Provide.”
Gavin Rae, Principal of Openreach PIA, Fibre & Network Delivery, said:
“I would like to pass on my thanks to you and the wider team for their great work, good documentation and a high quality of requests into our front office. The teams are working in a collaborative manner and it is great that we can move to the next stage in the PIA journey and offer this to you as one of the first CP’s.”
The PTC model simply means that ISPs get to take greater control of validation for Network Adjustments (i.e. repairing or clearing blockages in cable ducts or de-cluttering telegraph poles etc.) by evidencing they are carrying out the due diligence (validation) required to ensure civils costs are controlled appropriately and that they are working within the terms of the PIA contract.
As a result an ISP with this status shouldn’t have to worry about the extra delay that stems from Openreach’s field validation side (i.e. Openreach will no longer automatically validate in the field when a survey is not required). Naturally Openreach will only hand this status down once enough trust in the quality of such work has been established through prior builds.
Good to see this happening though I do worry all these small outfits are going get brought out in end and then will not increase coverage. Think I remember reading Cityfibre wants buy Talktalks network in York recently.
Honestly, I think we will see a repeat of the ISP market a few years back. These guys are start-ups, trying to disrupt the market with the aim be bought. Likely not concerned about profit, but growth.
As they have assets in the ground they will have a decent valuation. The concern as you rightly alluded to is they are not shared, unless who buys them sells to Wholesale.
Hey, I could be wrong but that is how I see it.
Technically Trooli is a start-up, although parent Call Flow Solutions has been in the market for a very long time building alternative networks.
@Mark Jackson
True enough but I think the point still stands the parent could easily sell off it’s Fibre assets to a third party
Certainly that’s possible.
Brought out to where?
If any of the alternative companies are going to cover me, this is likely to be the one as I’m in Kent. Just hope they show some interest in doing so at some point.
Trooli (Callflow) deserve huge respect for making PIA work. It started in 2012 when Ofcom were giving PIA lip service. They need to be paid for their efforts ..somehow.
It will be interesting if others can join and make this work. Path to Collaboration (PTC) does sound like having your liver pecked while tied to a telegraph pole. PIA via PTC is the BT Group version of waterboarding. PTC suggests you have survived some BT Group biblical test of old Testament proportions.
Well done Trooli, you deserve the best for the progress so far.