Delays to Rural ISP Gigaclear’s Full Fibre Rollout Reach Essex UK UPDATE

It never rains, but it pours. Gigaclear’s state aid backed rollout of a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network in Essex, which forms part of the wider Superfast Essex (SFE) project, looks set to suffer another delay due to issues of “contractor resource, the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and the lack of availability of cabinets.”

The latest update from SFE, which follows only a few days after the similar Fastershire project warned of a reduction to Gigaclear’s planned build in Herefordshire (here), has recently been sent to a number of local authorities in the county and (credits to Dan) is now starting to make its way out into the public domain (not yet fully reflected on SFE’s website).

Back in April 2021 the SFE project revealed that their rollout programme, which is working with both Openreach and Gigaclear on different contracts, had reached nearly 140,000 additional premises with broadband speeds of at least 30Mbps (i.e. those that the commercial market may have otherwise ignored). Meanwhile, around 20,000 premises had been put within reach of FTTP and there were plans to cover a further 7,000 by spring 2022.

As part of the remaining rollout, Gigaclear is currently contracted to deliver Phase 3.1 (Uttlesford), Phase 3.2 (Braintree, Colchester) and Phase 4a.1 (Epping Forest). However, as a result of the aforementioned deployment challenges, Gigaclear has now notified SFE of some delays, which will see Phase 3.1 completed by September 2022, while Phase 3.2 and 4a will finish by March 2022 – all were previously due for December 2021.

SFE Project Update Announcement

Gigaclear has advised that the delays are due to several reasons, which include a decreased amount of contractor resource, the Covid-19 pandemic, Brexit and the lack of availability of cabinets.

We understand this is disappointing news and would like to apologise for the further delays. Gigaclear is writing directly to residents and businesses who have registered interest and are impacted by the change in timescales. These letters are due to land [this] week.

We want to reassure you that we will continue to work closely with Gigaclear to support them in overcoming the challenges associated in deploying their ultrafast network, to ensure Essex communities can access the high-speed broadband services they have been waiting for.

Residents are advised to contact Gigaclear’s Network Build Care team, a dedicated support team for residents who are not yet connected to the network, by either email: networkbuildcare@gigaclear.com or phone: 01865 591137.

The news of yet another county suffering delays will no doubt cause some frustration for those affected, although unlike in Herefordshire the ISP hasn’t removed thousands of premises from their rollout plan. The delays also only seem to impact a smaller proportion of premises (exact figures are not provided, but we think it might be in the hundreds).

Nevertheless, it’s not the first time that delays have struck a Gigaclear deployment, and that will no doubt be a source of some embarrassment for the operator. The ISP has otherwise been making quite good progress on their wider commercial deployments across England, but clearly some problem areas remain.

By comparison, most of Openreach’s remaining FTTP orientated SFE contracts haven’t changed, although a few months ago their final Phase 4b (Brentwood, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Colchester, Harlow, Maldon, Rochford, Tendring, Thurrock, Uttlesford) contract did see its completion date being pushed back from June 2021 to December 2021.

Suffice to say, such issues are not unique to Gigaclear and, as we’ve said before, the current situation is another reminder of just how challenging it can be to build FTTP into rural locations – particularly the most remote communities, where per premises build costs can easily rise above expectations and take longer than expected.

UPDATE 15th Oct 2021

We’ve had a comment from Gigaclear.

A Spokesperson for Gigaclear told ISPreview.co.uk:

“The different build projects we’re involved with across the UK are completely independent and encounter unique challenges and issues. While we are dealing with labour shortages and rising material costs across the board, just like every other sector in the UK, these issues impact different contracts in different ways.

The labour shortage in particular is the main cause of the delay in our BDUK-funded roll out with Superfast Essex, but we’re working with them to address it as quickly and efficiently as possible.”