Digital Infrastructure Establishes North-West Fibre Training Facility

Another UK network builder – Digital Infrastructure (DI) – has today moved to tackle the shortage of skilled fibre broadband engineers by establishing its own training facility in Warrington, which is intended to provide over 100 people per year with the qualifications needed for a career in the industry.

In case anybody has forgotten, DI – backed by an investment of £100m from Basalt Infrastructure Partners – is the network developer that’s helping to build the full fibre (FTTP) broadband lines for partner ISP BeFibre across various parts of England. The operator began their UK deployment last year with a plan to cover 1 million premises across 80 towns and cities by the end of 2027 (here).

However, much like other alternative network operators (AltNets), DI has clearly found it necessary to tackle the shortage of skilled workers by establishing their own training facility. However, the centre isn’t solely for DI, either – but for partners, suppliers, and even competitors, too – and the opening brings them closer to their ambitions of creating up to 500 engineering and white-collar jobs within the company – and its sister ISP, BeFibre – by the end of 2022.

The 360 sqm development officially opened its doors on the Sankey Valley Industrial Estate (Newton-le-Willows) on 31st August. The facility features a large outdoor ‘street’, mock up, pole field, residential installation room, and four further classrooms to help train new engineers on the technology.

CEO of Digital Infrastructure, Charlie Ruddy, said:

“The Government is aiming to have all UK homes connected to full-fibre broadband by 2028 – and we want to be a part of that legacy. The challenge is, the boom in the telecoms sector has had a knock-on effect whereby there’s a significant lack of skilled labour – meaning everyone is chasing the same resource, leading to a bidding war and inflation. Digital Infrastructure’s training centre has been created to counteract that.

We are investing in the future of the UK’s connectivity – in terms of infrastructure and ability – and for that there needs to be a much larger talent pool to draw from, across the board. This centre isn’t solely for Digital Infrastructure, but for partners, suppliers, and even our competitors. Ultimately, we’re all working towards the same end-goal.”

We’re unclear on where DI got their “all UK homes connected to full-fibre broadband by 2028” target from, but it sounds like the one that pre-dated even Boris Johnson’s premiership. Today the goal under Project Gigabit is more technology neutral and aims to make gigabit-capable networks available to at least 85% of UK premises by the end of 2025 (commercial builds alone should hit about 80%+) and then “at least” 99% by 2030.

Speaking of Government policies, the Home Office is reportedly trying to make it easier for UK operators to attract foreign fibre engineers from Europe to help tackle the current problems, although they’ve been far too slow to both recognise that such action was needed and to then implement a solution.

Otherwise, DI said that their new facility would have capacity for up to 32 students per day, and courses lasting between 6 and 12 weeks, with programmes providing vital hands-on experience, dovetailed by academic study provided by training provider Inside Connections. DI is also working towards accreditation by City & Guilds, Smart awards, and PIA (i.e. access to Openreach’s existing ducts and poles) – and is expected to upskill more than 50 learners by the end of 2022.