Anger Over Netomnia’s Use of Telegraph Poles in UK FTTP Builds UPDATE

Netomnia, which is working to make their 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network available to 1 million UK premises by 2024 (here and here), are facing complaints in a number of their build areas after residents began objecting to the erection of new telegraph poles “without their knowledge or consent.”

So far the operator, which is supported by civil engineering firms Light Source and MAP Group (UK), is known to have committed an initial investment of £150m to cover 14 towns (c.500,000 premises), with work having already begun in quite a few of those (Peterlee, Spennymoor and Durham etc.).

Once live, customers in these locations – via ISP YouFibre – will typically pay from £22 per month (currently discounted to £20) on an 18-month term for their unlimited 50Mbps package, which rises to £50 if you want their top 900Mbps plan. Suffice to say that you’d think people would be more than happy with all this, after all, who doesn’t want access to a full fibre network? Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

Over the past few months we’ve received a steady string of complaints concerning Netomnia‘s use of telegraph poles in their UK rollout. Most of those gripes centre on how unattractive they are, as well as whether they were even necessary (as opposed to underground deployments) and the fact that they often appeared without the locals “knowledge or consent.” A few example gripes can be found below from different areas.

Sample Complaint 1

“Peterlee as a new town developed after the Second World War planned with tree-lined open green spaces. In keeping with this concept, Peterlee Development Corporation held that all telecommunications cabling would be underground to maintain the town’s aesthetic.

Those who had the concept and planned Peterlee from 1946 viewed the timber poles common in the surrounding mining villages as outdated technology. After 75 years, it is disappointing that Netomnia believes such infrastructure is acceptable in 2021. While superfast broadband is welcome, I would question why Netomnia has chosen to deliver the service via timber poles in Peterlee while providing the service via underground cabling in other areas.

There is strong public opposition to these poles, which are considered as little more than an act of vandalism against the community.”

Sample Complaint 2

“The estate I live on is currently in the middle of fibre rollout but the company carrying out the work Netomnia is not working in accordance with code of practice … We are being threatened that if we don’t let them install fibre we will in 2027 be without broadband.

In addition, the infrastructure is being built on creosote soaked poles that are weeping given that creosote was banned for domestic use in 2002 and initially scheduled to be banned for industrial use in March 2021 but has now been extended to October 2021.”

Sample Complaint 3

“Netomania have started to erect hideous 12 metre high wooden poles in our street as preparation for the new Youfibre broadband installation. No consultation was carried out with the residents and when asked whether the wires would all be underground, a company employee said categorically that this would be the case. We are all flabbergasted at the height and general appearance of the poles and are trying to find how this operation can be stopped.”

Many of the complaints come from residents in Peterlee, although the network builder was also asked to attend a council meeting in Spennymoor last night after residents there allegedly made similar complaints to the local authority. A video of that meeting does exist (see below – the operator’s local rep speaks from just after the 2:40 mark), but the audio is of such poor quality that it’s hard to make out what is actually being said.

At this point it’s worth saying that gripes about the installation of telegraph poles (call them broadband poles, or just.. poles, if you prefer) are nothing new, especially when they’re erected in areas where residents have previously enjoyed the unseen visual benefits of underground infrastructure. Openreach in particular have often run into similar issues (here and here), as have Airband (here), when building fibre.

Sadly, such poles aren’t particularly attractive and they’re much more noticeable than those green street cabinets, although at the same time they are a fairly common sight across much of the UK. Likewise, if you’ve grown up with them on your street then you tend not to notice their impact so much, and in our experience, they rarely harm local property values (partly because so many people are familiar with seeing them).

Poles can also be deployed under Permitted Development (PD) rights, which means that they don’t have to go through the usual planning permissions process and can often pop up quite quickly, often without residents getting much of a say in the matter. Operators tend to use this where underground fibre would, for whatever reason (blocked, damaged or full ducts etc.), become too expensive, but that does depend upon lots of factors.

The operator won’t be installing poles just to irritate the community, it will almost always be for cost reasons, because in that area it makes sense to them. If the costs are pushed up too high, then the deployment may become economically unviable. In short, sometimes poles can make the difference between an area getting full fibre broadband or being left to wait years longer. Some people may be happy with that outcome, but others won’t.

A Netomnia Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“Netomnia is committed to providing gigabit full-fibre to everybody where we are building networks and we continually review how we do this, sensitively, as we continue construction. We follow the Openreach deployment method, where they are ducts we use ducts, where there are poles we use poles. Unfortunately a significant amount of the network has been ‘direct buried’ and therefore requires extensive amounts of construction work to deliver fibre, and it is not always viable to carry this out compared with providing overhead infrastructure.

With regard to the Spennymoor meeting there appears to be some confusion. We were invited by Spennymoor Town Council to attend a town council meeting as an opportunity for us to introduce Netomnia and the benefits that we are bringing to the area. Poles were mot mentioned in that invitation and, indeed, we have not received any objections to poles from that area. We will discuss this with the council.”

At this point it’s worth saying that, for all the complaints from those who don’t like them, you can often find plenty of people who would be more than happy to accept the deployment of new poles if it meant gaining access to a full fibre broadband network. Plenty of surveys have indicated that gaining access to FTTP is likely to improve local house prices, although this does remain quite a subjective topic.

At the end of the day this remains a tricky subject for some communities, but over the next few years the UK will see many more poles being erected to help spread FTTP. Some will welcome this, while others will clearly hate it.

UPDATE 11:48am

Added Netomnia’s comment above.