ISP Brsk Faces Objections to UK Broadband Poles in Ashton

Alternative network operator and UK broadband ISP Brsk have put part of their plan to roll-out a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network in the market town of Ashton (Tameside, Greater Manchester) and Dukinfield under review, which comes after locals raised concerns over the provider’s use of poles for part of the build.

The operator – fuelled by an investment of at least £259m – is currently building out its new network across parts of West Yorkshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, and the West Midlands (Birmingham and The Black Country). Some 28,000 customers (1st Mar 2024) already use the service and they’ve covered 500,000 premises passed (486,184 RFS – 30th Apr 2024).

However, brsk, much like most network operators, have also been deploying some wood poles to help run their overhead cables, which are a very common sight across the UK (millions have been built). Such poles are quick and cost-effective to build, can be deployed in areas where there may be no space or access agreement to safely put new underground cables, are less disruptive (avoiding the noise, access restrictions and damage to pavements of street works) and can be built under Permitted Development (PD) rights with only minimal prior notice.

The lower cost impact of poles can often mean the difference between building a competitive gigabit broadband into an area or skipping it. But not everybody is a fan and those who complain often focus on their negative visual appearance, as well as concerns about exposure to damage from major storms (example), the lack of effective prior consultation or engineers that fail to follow safety rules while building. The issue often becomes particularly emotive in areas that haven’t previously had poles before.

The latest example of this comes from brsk’s ongoing deployment across the market town of Ashton-under-Lyne and neighbouring Dukinfield, where local councillor Dan Costello and several residents have complained about the operator’s use of poles in some parts of the build (as opposed to going underground, which was possible in some other areas). As usual, most of the gripes have to do with the perceived negative visual impact.

Cllr Costello said (The Correspondent):

“I stressed that I thought Brsk were forcing an 1850s solution on residents who do not want it because of their own laziness and lack of investment in a modern, fit for purpose, solution, but, against the weight of their own greed, such an argument had little impact.

Brsk are a disgrace, their greedy approach is a disgrace and their arrogant hiding behind legislation to impose a 170-year-old solution because of their own inability to develop a better solution is an absolute disgrace.”

In response, brsk said their network was being “built within and on the existing telecommunications infrastructure both overhead and underground” (i.e. harnessing Openreach’s existing ducts and poles), albeit with some of the operators own poles being necessary in certain areas to help fill in the gaps where this isn’t possible (usually due to lack of access or spare capacity within the existing network).

Despite this, brsk has taken a constructive approach by putting some of their proposed pole deployments in the area under review, which may or may not mean that they all go ahead. But this could also result in some streets being skipped, due to the high cost of an alternative underground roll-out making some deployments simply too expensive (i.e. leaving locals with fewer competitive network options). Some may still be happy with such an outcome, but this often overlooks the voices of those who do want the choice.

A spokesperson for brsk said:

“The poles are placed in locations which cause the least disruption to residents, and any residents who may be impacted are directly communicated with through our engagement process so that we can discuss and do our best to accommodate where possible. We only stand poles on public land and therefore private property such as gardens would not be selected as a location for a pole.

In the area in question, we need to use overhead infrastructure because there are buried Openreach cables, which means there is no duct for us to access underground, leaving overhead as our only option to connect residents to full fibre.

Having already built a full fibre broadband network that spans over 500,000 homes across various regions of the UK, with 226,000 of those in Manchester alone, we have naturally encountered queries and concerns along the way, however this has been minimal in relation to the total build completed.

We have received no complaints from the area in question, however we have a transparent communication policy and welcome any residents with concerns or questions to get in touch, and our dedicated teams will be happy to assist. In the council district of Ashton Waterloo, there are 248 existing Openreach poles that we will make use of as much as possible.

Where we aren’t able to use this or where there might be significant gaps in the network that need to be accommodated for, our initial plan is to install 50 additional telegraph poles across the area, which will service nearly 4,000 homes. We’re proud to be making Ashton Under-Lyne one of the best digitally connected areas in the country ahead of the national deadline.”

In terms of the town itself, we note that most of the area is already covered by Virgin Media’s gigabit-capable network, while Openreach and Hyperoptic only have a very limited presence via FTTP. But both ITS Technology and now brsk do seem to have already built and put live (RFS) a sizeable full fibre network in the area, although ITS tends to attract more interest for its business solutions.

Meanwhile, the Government’s Digital Infrastructure Minister, Julia Lopez, did recently call on network operators to “limit installation of telegraph poles” (here and here), albeit largely by reiterating the rules that operators already follow. Julia also called on Ofcom to provide guidance to local planning authorities on how to raise complaints, as well as asking them for support to tackle the challenge.

However, Ofcom has yet to take any enforcement action related to poles or even investigate a specific complaint, which is in part because a lot of the local-level complaints people have raised don’t strictly breach the existing and fairly flexible guidelines. See the Revised Cabinet and Pole Siting Code of Practice Nov 2016.

The current government has proposed to “revise” the existing code for poles to “make sure that communities feel engaged in the deployment of new broadband infrastructure, whilst still allowing operators to continue deploying their networks.” We expect more meetings and better notifications to be the result, which may add some extra costs and time to network builds. But the recent move to call a General Election could impact all this.