New UK Rules to Spread Gigabit Broadband into Big Buildings

The UK Government has today proposed a solution as part of the outcome from their recent consultation, which sought a new way of making it easier for “gigabit-capable” broadband ISPs and mobile network operators to access buildings – usually big apartment blocks (Multi-Dwelling Units) – where “rogue landlords” fail to respond.

At present some operators (Openreach, Virgin Media, Cityfibre, Hyperoptic etc.) who wish to access an existing building – specifically large residential apartment blocks (MDU) – have often struggled to extend their coverage because landlords don’t always respond to such requests or may refuse access, which can leave residents trapped on slower connections.

Admittedly some landlords do have legitimate concerns about damage to property, liability (e.g. health and safety rules) and low rental payments, among other things. Nevertheless there are also plenty of cases where there may be no real negative to an operator wanting to improve the broadband connectivity of a building, except getting permission.

As Openreach’s CEO, Clive Selley, said last year (here): “One obstacle we face is with the owners of big buildings … it’s tough in London to work out who owns buildings and contact them, it’s quite unique as its an international city and buildings are owned by people across the planet. I worry that some connections could take years if the building owners don’t come forward.”

In response the Government’s Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review (FTIR), which was published last July, proposed several changes and two related consultations followed as part of the Budget 2018 announcement. These proposed to mandate Gigabit capable broadband connections for new build homes and would make it easier for network operators to access buildings when landlords fail to respond.

Proposals for New Build Homes and Tenants (Both Consultations)

* Amending the Electronic Communications Code (ECC) to place an obligation on landlords to facilitate the deployment of digital infrastructure when they receive a request from their tenants.

* Enabling communications providers to use magistrates courts to gain entry to properties where a landlord fails to respond to requests for improved or new digital infrastructure.

* Developers and network operators share the cost of connecting new build sites to gigabit-capable networks.

* Introducing a “duty to connect” provision upon network operators.

* Amending Building Regulations Approved Document Part R: (Physical infrastructure for high-speed electronic communications networks). This will mean all new build sites will be built with the necessary infrastructure in place to support gigabit-capable networks.

Both consultations concluded at the end of December 2018, although today we’ve only been given the outcome to the first consultation into access for existing buildings. As above, the plan here is to create a “cheaper and faster process for telecoms companies to get access rights“; it will ONLY apply when a landlord has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for access to install a connection that a tenant within the building has asked for.

In such situations broadband network operators will gain a cheaper and more streamlined route via the existing Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) to connect the property, lowering the timescale to enter a property from 6 months to a matter of weeks, and at a “drastically reduced cost.” All of this will require new legislation to amend the Electronic Communications Code (ECC).

Part 4 of the existing ECC allows operators to apply to a tribunal for provisional rights to enter a property and install infrastructure, but operators often don’t use this because of the high cost, time and uncertainty of eventual result. Under the new system operators will only have to wait 42 days before making an application to use the new process (i.e. ensuring they have sent a sufficient number of notices and made serious attempts to gain access).

Nicky Morgan MP, UK Digital Secretary, said:

“We’re pushing ahead with delivering the digital infrastructure that will underpin the UK’s future growth and boost our productivity.

We’ve just announced £5 billion so that people in rural communities will get gigabit speed internet at the same time as everyone else.

And we’re now making sure people living in blocks of flats and apartments are not left behind either, and can reap the huge benefits of the fastest and most resilient internet connections.”

David Smith, Policy Director for the Residential Landlords Association, said:

“We recognise how important it is that tenants should have access to high speed broadband. It is in a landlord’s interests to be able to offer it as it makes their properties more attractive to prospective tenants.

The RLA will work constructively with the Government to ensure that any difficulties in implementing enhanced access rights are addressed such as broadband companies ensuring they have the right contact details for a landlord.”

The Government estimates that as many as 3,000 extra residential buildings a year could be connected as a result of this change. The UK is home to an estimated 480,000 blocks of flats or apartments but many of those do have landlords who respond.

However we should caveat that landlords, assuming they suddenly decide to wake-up and respond, will still be able to challenge the making of such an order. As such it remains to be seen how many will opt to obstruct such work and thus prevent their residents from gaining access to the fastest broadband speeds.

Lutz Schüler, CEO of Virgin Media, said:

“This new law is something Virgin Media has long called for – it breaks through a major broadband barrier as we invest to bring gigabit speeds to our entire, ever-growing network. Giving broadband builders clear and efficient access rights will mean the many forgotten flats across the country can get the next-generation connectivity they deserve.”

Greg Mesch, Chief Executive Officer of CityFibre, said:

“We are pleased to see the Government supporting competitive builders of digital infrastructure as they build momentum to deliver the target of national full fibre coverage by 2025. As a company committed to rolling out more than 20% of the target, CityFibre welcomes all barrier busting initiatives that help to accelerate the rate of build.”

Overall this represents very good news for consumers and the broadband sector alike, although it’s disappointing that the Government hasn’t yet set out any changes for new build developments. As we understand it, DCMS is still intending to legislate on the new build issue so that every new home in the UK is constructed with “gigabit-capable” connections in mind and we’re expecting an outcome to this before Christmas.

Just to give a sense of scale, Openreach’s response noted that they currently struggle to access around 80% of premises within their City of London build, which falls to around 30% in the London suburbs.

What’s not so clear in all this is how long it will take the Government to implement everything that has been proposed above, particularly given Brexit’s on-going tendency to hog parliamentary time.

UPDATE 7:20am

You can now read the full Government response (here), which adds a bit of extra context and suggests that another consultation will be needed in order to iron out the details of what happens once an ordered agreement for access has been won by an operator. The key bit of text is below.

Extract from Government Response

The Government intends to legislate so that as an effect of the application to the Tribunal being successfully sought by an operator, an agreement will be imposed on the operator and the landlord. Regulations made under the primary legislation will set out the terms of the agreement and we intend to consult on what those terms will be before making those regulations. Likely subject areas to be covered in those regulations include:

○ restrictions on the operator’s right to enter on the land to certain times;

○ requirements relating to the manner in which the operator carries out works;

○ requirements on the operator relating to insurance cover.

The policy seeks to balance the interests of landlords and operators, as well as tenants. Not least, this is done by the fact that the interim Code rights will only be available to an operator for a limited time. Furthermore, the operator will only have a limited period – to be specified in regulations and upon which Government will consider consulting – following the final warning notice to a landlord in which operators can apply for interim Code rights. We hope that in due course this will increase the response rate to requests for access and support tenants’ access to high quality networks.

UPDATE 10:05am

Added a comment from Hyperoptic.

Dana Tobak CBE, Hyperoptic MD and CEO, told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We welcome the new legislation, which will help residents, particularly in large urban areas, gain access to superfast full fibre broadband. We’re very proud of our engineering work force, who are highly skilled and trained to ensure we have top quality installations.

We hope that other operators using these new rules are equally stringent in their compliance of best practice in health and safety, and in particular in fire safety – so that they’re as committed to protecting their staff and the residents as we are.”