Housing Landlords Still View Cost as Main Barrier to Full Fibre
A new survey of 132 landlords who own properties in London, which was conducted by UK ISP CommunityFibre in collaboration with Inside Housing, has revealed that cost (77%) and installation complexities (55%) are still perceived to be the biggest barriers to housing owners getting “full fibre” broadband installed in their properties.
The survey itself took feedback from a mix of housing associations, ALMOs, local authorities and sheltered accommodations or supported living units during September 2020. The results help to show some of the attitudes towards the FTTP broadband rollout, as well as whether or not they think the government will meet their target of gigabit-capable broadband for all UK homes by the end of 2025.
Interestingly, most of those surveyed did recognise the benefits of better broadband, with 90% believing that a “full fibre” network provides an opportunity for them to improve the service they provide (e.g. 80% have already developed online channels for repairs management, rent payments etc.) and 80% viewing improved resident satisfaction as a key motivation for such deployments.
On the flip side, less than a third of landlords say they’re able to gauge their residents’ satisfaction with their broadband service, while only 1 in 6 think that their residents are actually happy with the quality of broadband available at their properties. Meanwhile just 42% of landlords are confident that their properties will have 100% full fibre by 2033, let alone 2025.
Additional Survey Results
* 55% of landlords believe the COVID-19 crisis will make it easier for the Government to meet its Gigabit target.
* 3 in 5 landlords felt they did not have the expertise to facilitate 100% full fibre install.
* Only a quarter of landlords intend to help telecommunications providers to upgrade their broadband services in the next 24-months.
The survey seems to be largely concerned with existing properties (social housing, apartment blocks etc.), rather than new build developments. We know from other research that around 85-90% of UK new build homes currently being constructed are being equipped with a “full fibre” (FTTP) network (here).
However, CommunityFibre tends to target existing landlords and thus has a vested interest in the survey. Nevertheless, the operator correctly points out that it’s often possible to upgrade existing buildings at either no or very little extra cost to the landlord. Indeed, various other operators, such as Hyperoptic, Cityfibre, Openreach and more, have all got approaches that can also do this (experiences may vary depending on the property and wayleaves etc.).
Lest we forget that the new Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill is also working to make it significantly easier, quicker and cheaper for “gigabit-capable” broadband ISPs to access big apartment blocks (MDU) when “rogue landlords” fail to respond, which is another aspect of this challenge. Sadly, this bill has suffered some delays due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and Linkedin.
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meanwhile … in London …
hmm… what FTTP provider shall i use?
in the rest of the country …
what’s FTTP?
It’s a lottery. There are certainly many providers in London for expensive leased lines.
However, big chunks of central London don’t even have FTTC (EO lines). Whilst a few areas have multiple altnets to choose from, Openreach FTTP coverage within the M25 area is still pretty poor – check the map at https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fibre-first#fibrefirstlocations
Cityfibre/Vodafone’s FTTP building is all outside of London. Slough is the nearest.
antagonistic question
so where in the UK are you then
I’m a Resident’s Management Director for an estate just north of J6 M25.
Before I was the director I had Hyperoptic interested to install for free in 2018. But the then director wasn’t interested and thus never got done.
Roll forward to late 2019, (when labour was saying broadband would be free if they won) Hyperoptic came back and said that it would cost £12’000 to install. Which is quite high.
In March 2020 I took over the directorship, Hyperoptic came out and quoted for the installation. They have come back as our contribution is to be £10’000. Which is still high.
On the hope of them changing there tune I have kept in touch with them throughout the year, but they have not changed the price.
So I have contacted Community Fibre and Virgin Media.
Community Fibre need to have a number of more flats to do in the area to come and do it.
Virgin Media are interested but need to survey the estate first. Which is delayed due to COVID.
I’ve signed wayleaves for both Hyperoptic and Community Fibre.
Going forward I would prefer either Community Fibre or Hyperoptic as they provide a symmetrical service.
@JamesW
Have you asked your residents what they want? It’s possible that they may have a collective preference for ISPs like Sky, TalkTalk, PlusNet, BT etc that are not available with Hyperoptic or Community Fibre. They may not be so bothered about symmetric speeds.
@New_Londoner
Hopefully you are aware that Sky, TalkTalk, PlusNet, BT etc primarily use OpenReach’s infrastructure (except in a very small % of areas).
Having Hyperoptic or Community Fibre to install won’t mean that they can not use the other ISP’s services. But they would have to wait for OpenReach to install the FTTP services.
I do understand that most won’t need/want the ‘symmetric’ speeds.
But if you are offered (example)
250mb package from HO/CF for £25 a month (symmetrical)
or
250mb package from Sky/TT/PN etc for £30 a month (non-symmetrical)
Then you would be just going with who’s cheapest.
@JamesW.
The issue raised is that by selecting a specific ISP, particularly if they do not have a Wholesale policy, may result the restrictive ownership of any infrastructure and the service choice for residents.
We are finally in a position where FTTP provision is increasing at pace. The future scope and coverage of OR is unknown and will be dependant on a number of factors but what is clear is that if a consumer gets OR they will get an open selection of ISPs. Cityfibre and ONFL have wholesale policies but will have a short term number of ISPs.
Whilst we all seek higher speeds we also need to ensure consumers are not thrust into a monopolistic situation, especially if MDUs have infrastructure that creates a dependency and asked to pay unnecessary costs for premium services that are not in their choice/cost/need.
In addition Giga does not necessarily mean FTTP, FTTP means different things to different providers with FTTP being different to FTTH as is FTTRouter. The vast majority of customers profiles remain asymmetric. All they want is a reliable that delivers the advertised speed and the upload is effective within the cost bracket they can afford.
@JamesW
You may well be right however I’d suggest asking your residents. I suspect that some may not be interested at all, some may prefer to stick with a known brand, some will wish to retain their existing package (eg TV, mobile and broadband) and some will indeed be happy to migrate to the new ISP. The £10k contribution seems high, is Hyperoptic still pushing for exclusivity too?
@Meadmodj
So by your logic all altnets are bad? As they don’t all have a wholesale program?
Just because HO/CF gets installed it wouldn’t mean other altnets or OR wouldn’t want to install. As they are over building in many locations. Leaving out the areas which are still on FTTC or even slower speeds.
I’ve signed multiple wayleaves so that it’s ‘first come first served’. I will do my best so that residents won’t need to spend a penny getting it installed to the site. It will be there if they want to take it out. And an OR network will be there if they don’t. As they will have the choice your argument is mute.
I would be on your side if they ‘replaced’ the OR infrastructure forcing everyone to take it. But this is not the case. Although it was one of there funding models to have the monthly fee included in the maintenance charge which I refused.
I think some of the comments are making the assumption that you are excluding OpenReach from installing FTTP as you haven’t specifically invited them.
This overlooks the fact HO/CF actively encourage landlords to invite them and OpenReach don’t.
OpenReach will approach a landlord when they are about to cover an area.
As long as you would be happy to sign a wayleave for OpenReach when they come to install FTTP in the local area then I see no issue with how you are handling things.
If you have no intention of allowing OpenReach to install FTTP after an Alt-Net has done so then that I would also criticize that approach.
OpenReach intend on retiring their copper services in the future and it would massively restrict the choice of ISP to your residents who want Ultrafast broadband (100Mb+).
(when labour was saying broadband would be free if they won) – that chestnut when the industy determined that would cost over 100m and you get no choice and it would be what it was – (soundbyte with no substance)