The Case of a 6 Year Wait for an Unfinished Openreach FTTP Build

In most cases, the UK roll-out and activation of a Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network into a new area is a process that can take anything from a few months and up to 1-2 years. But spare a thought for those who get stuck with part-complete builds, such as in one Lancashire community, where it may take 6 years to finish.

The issue of long delays and unfinished fibre builds is, sadly, nothing new to these pages, and it frequently results in those affected becoming stuck in limbo for an extremely long period of time. Often when this occurs, the only thing more frustrating than the extended wait is the lack of communication and explanation from the network operator involved.

The reasons for why it occurs can be many and varied, ranging from the impact of wider changes in an operator’s build strategy, to the discovery of unexpected engineering challenges and so forth. All of which could push an area outside economic viability and may require a lot of extra admin to resolve.

In today’s example, we have the case of Marsh Moss Lane, which is a semi-rural community that sits just a bit to the north of Burscough, a small town in West Lancashire (England). The lane reaches around 11 houses and a small business park of 10+ units. At present, locals are served by an older Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) network, which delivers speeds of around 30-40Mbps.

However, back in 2019 Openreach informed the community that they’d be upgraded to full fibre (FTTP) in 2020, and sure enough the work did start. Before long both the nearby New Lane and Tarlscough Lane had got it (both at opposite ends of Marsh Moss Lane), while the wood poles that chain along Marsh Moss Lane itself also had optical fibre run to some of them, albeit sometimes left curled up at the bottom.

In 2021 some locals decided to chase Openreach for an answer to why the FTTP build had not completed and, in-between denying that any optical fibre work had taken place on the lane (even though some clearly had – the picture on this article is from 2020), the operator indicated to expect it by Q1 2023. Except, that didn’t happen either, and now the community is being told to wait until 2026. A full six years after the work first began.

A Resident of Marsh Moss Lane told ISPreview.co.uk:

“January [2023] comes and goes with nothing. I chase Openreach once again. This time I report the ream of fibre cable is “dangerous” and they send out an engineer. He confirms the work from 2020 and finds it odd Marsh Moss Lane has been missed out. He says he’ll file a report, but he works on the copper side, so can’t do much.

He also said, it does seem the work is done, and they would “just need to put the box on the pole and connect this fibre cable”! I chase Openreach and they are now saying our road will be connected in 2026! With, again, no acknowledgement of the previous works or the waiting fibre cable.”

Naturally, locals have since lost trust in Openreach’s ability to deliver, and thus even the 2026 target is now regarded with some degree of scepticism. So, what happened to cause all this? The first thing to remember is that what might look, to the casual observer, like something that would be relatively straightforward to resolve, often isn’t.

Openreach informed ISPreview.co.uk that they fully understand the frustration of local homes and businesses when plans change, and they apologise for that. But the operator ultimately found that the build costs of fully extending down the lane would have been “too high to get to every property“, including those on the far side of the railway – which are mostly sparsely located.

In this case, it appears as if the build was hampered by a combination of the railway line, access/permissions (getting this for some areas can be difficult and costly), the extra street works needed, the lower density of properties around Marsh Moss Lane and the existing infrastructure already in place, have all had a role to play.

For example, some properties couldn’t be served by the operator’s existing full fibre Connectorized Block Terminals (CBT) on top of local wood poles, because of capacity. Instead, they would have had to build an entirely new PON (fibre spine), which itself would probably have needed to run over the railway line (a lot more work and expense due to additional access and safety implications).

In short, as the situation stands today, the build itself has not been abandoned, but we’re told it’ll be “no sooner” than the currently stated date of 2026. However, Openreach also states that their plans can and do sometimes change. In keeping with that, they’ve dispatched their Chief Engineer team to go out and take another look at the situation on the ground, which may or may not move things forward. We’ll post an update if the situation changes.