London Fibre Group Seeks Code Powers to Build UK Full Fibre Network

The London Fibre Group has revealed that they’re seeking Code Powers to help them design, build, own and operate a new fibre optic network, including Dark Fibre and shared duct infrastructure, for use by other communications providers (wholesale) to expand their respective broadband and Ethernet networks across the United Kingdom.

The plan was revealed as part of the company’s application for Code Powers from Ofcom, which are typically sought in order to help speed-up deployments of new fibre networks and cut costs, not least by reducing the number of licences needed for street works. The powers can also help with supporting access to run new fibre via Openreach’s (BT) existing cable ducts and poles (PIA).

The announcement doesn’t include much detail, although their focus appears to be on serving “metropolitan areas and major cities“, particularly areas that “currently experience poor speeds and weak signals due to reliance on copper services or fibre‑to‑the‑cabinet [FTTC].” All of this sounds a bit more like a civil engineering company, although the mention of wholesale and managed service provision suggest it’ll go a bit deeper than that.

The company itself is already well established and was originally incorporated on 7th November 2019, although their latest “micro company accounts” suggest they haven’t recently been too active in this area. But clearly that may be about to change.