VX FIBER’s Stoke FTTP Rollout Hit with £2460 of Fines in 1 Week

Network developer VXFIBER (inc. subsidiary LilaConnect) has once again faced criticism over their work to build a new 1Gbps Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network across the Staffordshire (England) city of Stoke-on-Trent, which recently saw them being hit with £2,460 of roadworks fines in just one week.

The “citywide” rollout, which reflects their project to construct a new 60-mile long gigabit “full fibre” network to reach 100,000 premises in Stoke (here), is taking place as part of a £19.2m partnership between the city council and VXFIBER – this is split between a complementary £9.2m state aid supported full fibre (LFFN) build for the public sector and a £10m commercial rollout to local homes and businesses.

However, the work hasn’t always been well received, which is evidenced by last year’s complaints from residents about the quality, noise and conduct of their street works (here). According to the Stoke Sentinel, the operator has now been hit with £2,460 of fixed penalty notices (FPN) by the council, in the space of just one week, after it recorded various breaches (e.g. starting work on Leek Road without asking permission).

A Spokesperson for VX FIBER said:

“Due to human error and a miscommunication, VX Fiber commenced the work without a permit. This was resolved and a permit was fully approved by Stoke on Trent City Council. The fine from Stoke-on-Trent City Council is a formality and is in line with legislation, as such the amount of £300 was paid in full by VX Fiber within the 30-day period. Processes have been put in place to ensure this does not happen again.”

The development is interesting for a number of wider reasons, not least of which is the fact that the council only recently became a permitting authority (i.e. prior to this they wouldn’t have been able to directly issue such fines). But the fact that we’re hearing about the size of these fines at all is somewhat of a rarity, as local authorities normally keep such things confidential.

In this case, the local authority is hoping that their FPNs will encourage a better standard of work and result in fewer complaints from residents. On top of that, they’re also going one step further than most other local authorities by publishing a roadworks league table (due by the end of 2022), which will name and shame the worst companies. We’ve rarely ever seen anything like that, and it’s welcome.

On the flip side, deploying new infrastructure will inevitably always create periods of disruption for local residents, which is often true no matter who is doing the noisy civil engineering side of things (over the years we’ve seen similar gripes being levelled against lots of other broadband operators).

Such work will often end up attracting complaints, some of which are difficult to avoid (e.g. blocked driveways and noise), although in other cases the contractors may also be failing to follow good practice. However, in the long run, the ability to access affordable 1Gbps broadband speeds should make all of this disruption worthwhile and may even boost the value of local housing, as well as the economy.