Brsk, FullFibre Ltd and IX Wireless Face More Pole Complaints

Several broadband ISPs and network builders, including Brsk, FullFibre Ltd and IX Wireless, have this week become the latest in a long line of UK operators to face complaints from various different communities about their decision to deploy telecoms poles to run new full fibre and wireless networks.

At the risk of sounding a bit like a broken record (gripes against poles are becoming endemic). Poles are a fairly common sight across much of the UK, which is in no small part because they’re much more cost-effective, can be built in areas where there may be no space to safely put new underground cables, are less disruptive (avoiding the usual noise, access restrictions and damage to pavements etc.) and faster to deploy than digging trenches. The lower cost impact can often mean the difference between building gigabit broadband into an area or skipping it entirely.

However, not everybody is a fan of poles. Complaints often focus on their negative visual appearance (some look worse than others), concerns about the risk of damage from major storms (example), and a lack of prior consultation. Most poles are built via Permitted Development (PD) rights and thus don’t have to go through the usual planning process, which means only the most minimal of easily missed prior notice is required (sticking a note to a lamp post).

The loudest complaints naturally occur when new poles are built into areas that haven’t had them before, such as locations that may have previously enjoyed the benefits of largely invisible underground infrastructure (examples here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

The Latest Complaints

The latest batch of complaints come from various different parts of the country. Firstly, residents of The Sands estate in the Cotswold village of Broadway have campaigned against FullFibre Limited‘s (Fibre Heroes) plans to erect 22 poles on the estate, as well as a further 21 elsewhere in the village, to help run their new FTTP network (here). The operator has already covered most of the rest of the community.

Some residents have said they’re even willing to be arrested if it means they can stop the work, with some planning to park their cars over areas of the pavement where the poles are due to be erected. Meanwhile, others have threatened the extremely dangerous, as well as highly illegal, activity of using a chainsaw to cut down any that do get deployed. Damaging critical comms infrastructure may well result in jail time.

A spokesperson for FullFibre Ltd said:

“We understand that poles can be deemed to be visually intrusive and that they can be unpopular with some, but they are a critical element of our infrastructure, and they are the mode of delivery for fibre to the premises (or FTTP) for around 80% of the population in the UK.

We hope local residents can understand the importance of this build and recognise the very positive impact that this new infrastructure will have.”

Elsewhere, another full fibre network builder, Brsk, is facing similar complaints from the communities of both Wollaston Court and Ravenscroft within the West Midlands town of Stourbridge (here). At present the first area is only covered by Virgin Media’s gigabit-capable broadband network, but Brsk wants to bring more competition, lower prices and faster speeds to local premises via their own FTTP network.

In some cases residents claim to have been told that Brsk will even be erecting some of their poles “in the middle of the gardens and drives“, although we assume they’d still be on the public footpath etc. But we have seen some complaints from people who claim that operators have tried to secure wayleaves for putting them on private gardens too (for smaller properties this would generally be considered, by many operators, to be a bit of a no no – hopefully for obvious reasons).

We note that brsk did withdraw similar plans for new telegraph poles on Ridgewood Avenue during August, following pressure from residents, but at present they don’t appear to have made a similar decision for Wollaston Court and Ravenscroft.

A spokesperson for brsk said:

“We have been made aware of concerns raised by some residents in certain areas of Stourbridge who feel that there hasn’t been sufficient effort to communicate during our fibre roll out process. Our dedicated Midlands team are currently working to address all queries received, as well as reviewing our communication process to ensure corrective measures are put in place moving forward.

We take community engagement very seriously, which is why we are working hard to speak to all residents and councillors who have raised concerns as quickly as possible. We aim to collaborate with local councils and are working closely with councillors across Dudley Council, including Cllrs Tromans and Eccles, as well as the leader of the council.

We are keen to engage with residents and have already started to make improvements to our process, with the support of Dudley Council, to ensure that moving forward we are working collaboratively in the best interests of the community.”

Finally, we come to residents on Clarendon Street in Rochdale (Greater Manchester), who have raised their own complaints against the large metallic radio poles (masts) being deployed by IX Wireless (6G Internet) – used to support their new fixed wireless broadband network (here).

Once again, the area is already covered by Virgin Media’s gigabit-capable network and 6Gi don’t currently offer a faster speed than 100Mbps to homes, so this one doesn’t make quite as much sense as the other FTTP builds.

IX’s poles are also a fair bit taller and wider than the traditional wood pole deployments, and some locals fear they may knock £10k to £20k off the value of their homes (there’s currently no evidence to support that).

An IX Wireless spokesperson said:

“The placement of the poles are within permitted development rules which allow telecom providers throughout the UK to undertake infrastructure work. Our permits are approved by the local council ahead of the installation of the poles.

We target areas where there is a clear demand for faster broadband, and this includes all areas across the region. We are concerned local residents have expressed their upset about the latest installation. We understand that while many people have welcomed investment in the roll-out of digital infrastructure, some people are unhappy and where necessary we are happy to speak to residents who may feel a structure is causing an obstruction.”

So far IX has only promised to speak with locals about their concerns, but they haven’t committed to stop the local deployment and indeed those poles that have already been built are highly unlikely to be removed.

Overall, poles remain one of the least loved pieces of modern broadband and phone infrastructure (not unlike mobile masts). However, with so many network operators now using them to deploy new services, then it’s hardly surprising that the volume of gripes has also increased.

Naturally, we’d all prefer it if broadband, power and mobile infrastructure was totally invisible, but that’s not always economically feasible. The government have allowed the current level of flexibility in order to support their plans for achieving nationwide (c.99%) coverage of gigabit-capable broadband by the end of 2030. Most people seem happy to accept such poles if it means getting full fibre, but it’s definitely not a universal sentiment.

At this point it’s worth noting that there’s a general election on the horizon and, as this issue seems to be slowly becoming more of a political one, then we might in the future see today’s concerns being followed by the reintroduction of some greater restrictions.

The risk there is that such a change could damage existing rollout plans and investments, which might have wider consequences for future deployments – both via poles and underground.