First Trainee Fibre Engineers Under Project Gigabit’s Cumbria Contract Get Started

The first cohort of at least 90 apprentice full fibre (FTTP) engineers have just begun their training for future telecoms jobs, which forms part of the UK Government’s £108m investment under their Project Gigabit broadband rollout contract with ISP Fibrus – alongside network build partner Viberoptix – in rural Cumbria.

In case anybody has forgotten. The Cumbria (Lot 28) project was the first large-scale Regional Supplier contract to be awarded under the wider £5bn Project Gigabit scheme last year (here). Various rural towns, villages and hamlets across the region – from Grasmere to Gilsland – are expected to benefit (total of 60,000 premises). The first homes only recently began to go live in Staveley (here) and Aspatria followed.

As part of that deal, Fibrus also aimed to spark new apprenticeship and employment opportunities in the county. At the time the ISP said they were aiming to create at least 90 apprenticeships over the next 3 years – covering a range of roles from underground and overhead cabling to surveying – and would also invest £50,000 to establish an apprentice training academy near Penrith.

The first cohort of 8 Cumbrian apprentices under that plan are now in training at the brand new Viberoptix Training Academy in Newton Rigg (Penrith), and all are set to be offered permanent employment on completion. The site has gone through an extensive refit, after previously being used as a one-time agricultural training college.

Sir John Whittingdale, Minister for Digital Infrastructure, said:

“Ultra-fast, reliable broadband is transforming the way we connect with each other and do business, and creating exciting opportunities in the UK’s growing telecoms industry. These apprentices kick-starting their careers here at Newton Rigg are just the first who will be gaining the skills and expertise to take up good jobs and help accelerate the rollout of high-speed broadband in Cumbria.

Our partnerships with businesses like Fibrus and Viberoptix are spurring investment in local communities and securing a pipeline of talent for years to come, backed by £108 million in Government funding to deliver lightning-fast broadband connectivity across Cumbria and level up the county’s digital infrastructure.”

Linda McMillan, Chief People Officer at Fibrus, said:

“The enrolment of the first apprentices at Newton Rigg this summer is a testament to our commitment to local communities. Alongside offering people in Cumbria essential full-fibre broadband connections, we’re committed to supporting the region with community grants, job creation and training opportunities. I am delighted that we’re creating new career pathways for local apprentices this year through our trusted partner Viberoptix.”

In the past we reported on the issues being faced across the industry by a shortage of skilled fibre engineers, although it’s worth highlighting that this is now much less of a problem. This is partly because a lot of operators have recently been slowing their builds and thus making some engineers redundant as they come under strain from rising costs, competition and the related need to secure a viable level of take-up to satisfy investors.

Eventually there will be a surplus of engineers once major operators, such as Openreach, reach a level of build maturity and the roll-out pace begins to slow. This is of course the inevitable reality of nearly all major infrastructure projects.