{"id":28338,"date":"2021-10-16T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T23:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=28338"},"modified":"2024-02-23T15:28:24","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T15:28:24","slug":"gigaclear-interview-the-uk-challenges-of-building-rural-full-fibre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/10\/gigaclear-interview-the-uk-challenges-of-building-rural-full-fibre.html","title":{"rendered":"Gigaclear Interview – The UK Challenges of Building Rural Full Fibre"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs at broadband ISP Gigaclear<\/a>, James Fredrickson, has today highlighted to ISPreview.co.uk some of the challenges they face in rolling out their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP<\/a>) network to rural areas, and why they’re well placed to benefit from future consolidation.<\/p>\n

For those who don’t know. Gigaclear<\/a> has been operating in the UK for the best part of ten years and their focus has always been fixed on extending full fibre broadband infrastructure into some of England’s remotest rural communities, which most other commercial providers tend to overlook due to the high (disproportionate) cost of deployment.<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Since 2018 Gigaclear<\/a> has been owned by Infracapital (they also own or have stakes in Fibrus<\/a>, Ogi<\/a>, Neos Networks<\/a> and WightFibre<\/a> etc.) and has raised over \u00a3750m in committed capital.<\/div>\n

Despite the challenges involved, the operator’s FTTP<\/a> network has now covered around 240,000 premises<\/strong> across 22 counties in England (450 rural communities) and they’re currently aiming to reach 500,000 UK properties by 2023. The operator also ended last year with 439 employees, which is up from 337 in 2019 (summary of annual accounts<\/a>).<\/p>\n

At the same time Gigaclear now finds itself in a very different market from the one they launched into a decade ago. Today there are close to a hundred alternative network (AltNet) ISPs building full fibre networks (Summary of UK FTTP Build Progress<\/strong><\/a>) and that’s before we even count the huge expansion plans from Openreach<\/a> (BT<\/a>), as well as Virgin Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Whilst this potential investment brings the promise of better connectivity to remote communities, the economics of building in these areas is not supportive of multiple overlapping gigabit capable infrastructure operators. This is unlikely to be sustainable in the medium to long term and will likely result in a period of industry consolidation<\/em>,” said James Fredrickson<\/strong>to ISPreview.co.uk.<\/p>\n

James has been with the company for over 4 years, and before that he worked at Vodafone<\/a> UK in its Corporate and External Affairs function. Suffice to say that he knows a thing or two about this market. “If consolidation does then occur, we think Gigaclear is well placed to benefit from that process<\/em>,” said James, optimistically.<\/p>\n

Naturally, we wanted to know a lot more about the provider’s view of the current market and their plans for the future, and James has been kind enough to oblige.<\/p>\n

The Gigaclear Interview<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

1. Gigaclear have been deploying FTTP<\/a> networks into challenging rural areas for some years now and you\u2019re currently aiming to cover 500,000 premises by the end of 2023. So, to get us started, are you able to give us a little update on the network\u2019s current premises passed, committed investment and take-up progress?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

As of right now we\u2019re at around 240,000 premises passed, across southern rural England. In some of the most mature parts of the network, our take up reaches around 50% and as things stand at the moment, we have raised over \u00a3750 million in committed capital.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. As one of the most well-established alternative network (altnet) providers, you\u2019ve surely seen a lot of change in the market since 2010. One of the biggest over the past few years has been the surge in new entrants, most of which have been fuelled by an influx of commercial funding from investors and more favourable market conditions \/ regulation etc. (something Gigaclear itself has also benefited from via Infracapital). <\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the catches with this is that you now have many more potential competitors to deal with than just the traditional players, and some of those are already in close proximity. What are your thoughts on this, and how are Gigaclear adapting to meet the challenge from a greater number of infrastructure and ISP competitors?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

The altnet community has certainly expanded over the last few years. Whilst a large part of that proliferation has focused on build in urban areas, we have seen new operators declaring build plans in the rural areas in and around our current footprint.<\/p>\n

This marks a substantial shift in our industry\u2019s landscape; you don\u2019t have to look too far back into the past to see the fixed network landscape dominated by an incumbent and a single large challenger; neither of which were investing in FTTP or prioritising rollout in rural areas. In large part thanks to the emergence of new operators in this space, the big operators have had to react to that challenge and increase the scale of their investment.<\/p>\n

Whilst this potential investment brings the promise of better connectivity to remote communities, the economics of building in these areas is not supportive of multiple overlapping gigabit capable infrastructure operators. We aren\u2019t then surprised to see new entrants making big declarations about their intentions to build in these types of location. This is unlikely to be sustainable in the medium to long term and will likely result in a period of industry consolidation.<\/p>\n

For our part in responding to these changes, we have to continually improve on what we do. On the build side of the business, that\u2019s meant continuing to accelerate our build rate, scaling our design processes and regionalising the operation of the business to be closer to the communities we are serving. We\u2019re also increasing the number of wholesale partners we work with, as well as the size and effectiveness of our own retail function.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

3. Gigaclear is an operator that specialises in connecting remote rural areas, which are incredibly expensive to tackle with FTTP technology. Can you tell us, which was your most expensive deployment (by per premises cost) and have you found any new ways to help bring the costs down over the past 3 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

The ones that immediately jump to mind are laying fibre across the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol and drilling under the River Severn. Whilst the costs associated with that work were significant, we had to accept them as it was the only viable way to bring gigabit capable connectivity to those areas.<\/p>\n

In terms of bringing the costs down, PIA has made life easier in some places. But in some of the areas we are building in, it\u2019s either not available as the Openreach<\/a> infrastructure is buried directly into the ground or is in need of significant repair to be viable. This can mean that the benefit is only marginal and it\u2019s not the magic bullet some hoped it might be for rollout, especially in rural areas.<\/p>\n

The more material change in how we have driven down cost is the granularity of our planning and improving the scale of our civils contracting resources. When rolling out network in urban and suburban areas, there are usually multiple alternative network routes of roughly equal cost. Whereas in rural areas you can often be dependent on a single viable route. That means a single non-responsive landowner can hold up an entire community build. Whilst this is an enduring risk in rural rollout, we have improved our ability to quickly develop new build routes should we fail to secure land access on a critical path.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

4. The award of Scotland\u2019s R100 contract to BT<\/a> for LOT 1 ended up being delayed for one full year by a legal challenge from Gigaclear (here<\/a>) – what exactly happened there? Reports from the court room stated that Scottish Ministers had made a \u201cmanifest error<\/em>\u201d in the procurement process (apparently this related to the technical issue of bid scoring). But very little detail has emerged to clarify what specifically went wrong in the process.<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

I appreciate that it\u2019s an intriguing topic, but unfortunately, I can\u2019t discuss it. The only thing I can say is that we were very conscious that a legal challenge risked delaying the programme and we did our very best to limit that delay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Please click over to continue reading on page 2..<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

5. The R100 situation wasn\u2019t the only difficult one that Gigaclear has faced over the past few years. Shortly after Infracapital acquired the company, in 2018, it became clear to the new owners that there were some historic problems, which seemed big enough to have cost Gigaclear their Devon and Somerset [CDS] contract (September 2019).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CDS team identified several \u201cfundamental issues\u201d that had contributed to significant delays, such as a lack of operational capacity, poor decision making, slow deployment by contractors, a lack of detailed planning and a failure to redesign the build methodology.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can you give us Gigaclear\u2019s side of this story and tell us what you\u2019ve done to put the wider rollout back on track since then (the latest rollout pace does appear to be much improved)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

Our experience with CDS was an important reflection point for us. The company was relatively young at the time of securing the contracts and was still operating exclusively from its Abingdon based HQ, and it was getting to the point where that wasn\u2019t the most efficient way of working.<\/p>\n

Moving to a regionalised build programme is one of the core lessons we took from our CDS experience, and it has been a key driver of the acceleration of our build rate since then, which now runs at c400% of what it was during that time. We are also continuing our own commercial investment in the area.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Since writting this article Gigaclear’s rollout has suffered some new delays in Herefordshire (here<\/a>) and Essex (here<\/a>).<\/div>\n

6. The Government has now revealed the strategy for their \u00a35bn UK Gigabit Broadband programme, which has adopted a mix of vouchers, gap funded deployments and some continuation of the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) model. But it also softened the initial coverage target to a \u201cminimum\u201d of 85% by the end of 2025 and only released \u00a31.2bn to support that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After that there\u2019s talk of more investment being released to help the scheme \u201cget as close as possible to 100%\u201d coverage, but only if the \u201cindustry can demonstrate it has the capacity to deliver further and faster.\u201d In terms of pros and cons, what are your thoughts on the new gigabit programme as it exists today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

As you would expect from a rural network operator with a history of securing and delivering BDUK state aid contracts, we take an active interest in the development of Project Gigabit. It is undeniable that there are areas of the country that simply cannot receive gigabit capable connectivity without the assistance of state aid and Government should be applauded for identifying that and committing funds to address it.<\/p>\n

With that said, the devil is in the detail with these contracts. The works involved in these programmes will take years to deliver, so there needs to be a balance of risk between the contracting parties and flexibility within the terms to adapt to a changing environment. They also need to deliver value to the taxpayer yet still attract a competitive tender process. Getting that balance of priorities right will be critical to the success of the programme.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

7. Two of the biggest challenges faced by all operators during 2020, and into the first half of 2021, have been the global COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit (e.g. the January 2021 trade agreement). Combined, these two issues have placed complex pressures on everything from the work force (there was already an issue with a lack of skilled fibre engineers) to supply chains. What problems did these cause your own company, and how did you adapt?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

During the first lockdown, the most significant impact was on our labour force. Scheduling works of any kind became increasingly difficult, as our members of staff and of our contractors could unexpectedly be unavailable because of self-isolation. We also had to quickly change the way we worked to make sure our people were safe and operating in accordance with the new rules.<\/p>\n

Whilst much of our workforce were identified as \u2018key workers\u2019 and our network build and repair activity was permitted to continue, there was also a lack of consistency in implementing these new rules. For example, some of the local Highways Authorities we work with initially wanted to cancel our planned works, whilst others wanted to accelerate them as demand on the road network was reduced.<\/p>\n

Despite these challenges, throughout the lockdown phases we continued to extend our network to new areas that needed improved connectivity then more than ever. We also didn\u2019t require any use of the government\u2019s furlough programme.<\/p>\n

As for Brexit, the transition arrangement and subsequent Free Trade Agreement helped to ease many of our initial concerns, particularly regarding the supply chain of critical network hardware. With that said, the reduced labour pool for network build roles is starting to drive supply side inflationary pressure on our build costs. To address that, we need to rise to the challenge of training and skilling our domestic labour force as an industry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

8. This year saw Ofcom<\/a> publish the outcome of their first combined Wholesale Fixed Telecoms Market Review 2021-26 (FTMR), which proposed major changes to help boost investment in \u201cfull fibre<\/em>\u201d broadband and high-capacity Ethernet services for residential and business connectivity markets. What do you think they got right, and what do you think they got wrong (if anything)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

The WFTMR signalled a significant shift in how Ofcom<\/a> approach our market. Historically, Ofcom<\/a> has largely concerned itself with protecting retail level competition by pursuing a pricing glide path that drives down Openreach<\/a>\u2019s wholesale charges. In the WFTMR Ofcom altered that approach and consciously sought to cultivate competition and investment at a network level. That shift in approach, and the way it influenced how Ofcom constructed their proposed remedies, has certainly encouraged investors.<\/p>\n

We also welcome Ofcom moving away from its early WFTMR proposal that would have seen falling copper pricing in rural areas where Openreach doesn\u2019t deliver FTTP. That, in our eyes, would have driven down the pricing of a substitutional product to FTTP. In turn, that would have then dampened consumer demand for FTTP and consequently driven value out of the competitor FTTP investment case for rural areas.<\/p>\n

With that said, we are extremely disappointed by Ofcom\u2019s decision to approve Openreach\u2019s Equinox discounts. In their eventual WFTMR decision, Ofcom moved away from considering falling copper pricing in rural areas, largely because this could damage the business case for other operators to deliver full fibre in Area 3. Yet in its Equinox decision, Ofcom does not consider the impact to competition in Area 3 as it believes that these areas are unlikely to sustain competition to Openreach. That places Ofcom\u2019s position in direct contradiction to its WFTMR decision and BDUK\u2019s Project Gigabit, which is seeking to encourage a competitive tender process for large state aid interventions across Area 3. This contradiction between the Government\u2019s ambitions and Ofcom\u2019s position creates multiple policy issues that risk slowing rural fibre rollout and we are still considering further steps regarding our response to Ofcom\u2019s Equinox decision.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

9. Earlier this year Ofcom proposed a new \u201cone touch<\/em>\u201d migration (switching) system for UK broadband ISPs (here<\/a>), which from December 2022 will make it easier for consumers to switch between ISPs on physically separate networks (i.e. extending the existing Gaining Provider Led [GPL] solution to include alternative networks, rather than just Openreach).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, this new system, while adding new challenges for smaller providers, will still represent an important change that should help alternative networks to attract customers away from the biggest players. But are there any areas where you think Ofcom could have improved their proposed approach?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

Given the proliferation of new FTTP networks and, consequently, an expansion in consumer choice, it makes sense to make it easier for customers to take advantage of the benefits these new entrants bring. At the moment, if you want to move from an ISP operating over the Openreach network, to an ISP using Gigaclear or other altnet infrastructure, the process will largely be driven by the customer trying to manually coordinate the ceasing of their old service and the start of their new one. That often leaves the customer with a period of no service at all and having to expend considerable time and resource in managing both sides of the switch. It is then easy to see why some customers will be deterred from making the switch to other networks. That\u2019s why we support Ofcom\u2019s proposed \u2018one touch\u2019 migration model as it simplifies the process and minimises the touch points required to complete the switch.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just a positive outcome for customers in that is makes it easier for them to access better connectivity, but it also drives more effective competition across our industry by diminishing the ability of larger established operators to make it difficult for their customers to move service provider.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

10. Over the next four years we will increasingly see the market move away from traditional phone lines (PSTN) and adopt a more IP (e.g. VoIP) based future, which requires ISPs to be prepared with alternatives (something full fibre providers already need to consider). <\/strong><\/p>\n

What kind of solutions do you offer for this and how will you tackle situations where a home covered by your network may only require a home phone service (i.e. no broadband), possibly as part of a migration away from traditional (non-IP) phone provider?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

Our network already enables our customers to add OTT [Over The Top] VoIP services, which a number of our wholesale partners offer. Our own retail arm is also looking at which voice services we should supply direct to customers ourselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

11. At the time of writing, there are around 70-80 alternative network providers that are building gigabit-capable fibre networks for consumers. The market is becoming increasingly crowded for altnets and history suggests that a rise in consolidation will almost inevitably follow at some point.<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are your views on the potential for future consolidation in the market, and do you see your own network as being ripe for purchase by a rival further down the road?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

If we look back at other similar markets, like the cable industry, it\u2019s natural to expect that the \u2018heating up\u2019 of the market through new entrants and new sources of capital won\u2019t last forever, and that consolidation is likely at some point. Whilst some areas of the market may well be able to sustain multiple gigabit capable networks, that is less likely in rural areas.<\/p>\n

If consolidation does then occur, we think Gigaclear is well placed to benefit from that process. After Openreach, we are the largest rural FTTP network and the most successful operator in securing and delivering BDUK state aid contracts, and our build rate continues to accelerate\u2026 which is no mean feat considering the terrain of some of the areas where we are building!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

12. One other significant risk from the emergence of so many altnets is that it will probably fuel a greater degree of consumer confusion, thus making the market much harder for the ordinary individual to understand (i.e. lots of different networks, with different availability and different ISP choices etc.). What can do you think should be done to help communicate and simplify the market for consumers?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

You\u2019re right, some of the terminology in our industry can be baffling and plenty of consumers don\u2019t know, nor care to know, the technical difference between FTTC<\/a> and FTTP, let alone the differences between network operators and their unique service offerings. Whilst the market will play a large part in finding a solution to this, an agreed standard of industry terminology might be helpful.<\/p>\n

We are then particularly interested in the recent report<\/a> from the \u2018Gigabit Take Up Advisory Group\u2019 (GigaTAG) and their recommendation that Ofcom and the broadband industry work together to develop clear and common terminology. We look forward to playing an active role in that work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

13. Commercial competition between full fibre providers in urban areas has become increasingly aggressive. Indeed, over the past few months we\u2019ve started to see more examples where three providers have all built networks in the same area (overbuild).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Government\u2019s 2018 Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review made clear that “at least a third (with the potential to be substantially higher) of UK premises are likely to be able to support three or more competing gigabit-capable networks.<\/em>“<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the one hand, this gives consumers extra choice and a better chance of getting a good deal. On the other hand, locals suffer more disruption from multiple builds, while overbuild does little to improve overall UK coverage and can also make it harder for providers to attract investment by stretching the payback period or risk. What is your position on all this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

Overbuild raises different policy questions depending on the market in question. In areas that can sustain multi-network competition, there is a question of whether the disruption caused by multiple operators building in the same communities and extending the payback periods of their respective investments outweighs the benefits of increased consumer choice.<\/p>\n

In rural areas, however, the commercial stakes of overbuild are much higher. In areas that can sustain only one scale gigabit capable network operator, overbuild of two gigabit capable networks can restrain an operator\u2019s ability to recover their cost of capital. This scenario could even be leveraged by larger network operators to purposefully overbuild or \u2018cherry-pick\u2019 in a challenger operator\u2019s rural footprint; the larger operator then absorbs the longer payback risk through cross-subsidising across its network footprint, in the knowledge that the new challenger cannot as readily do the same. This risk leads to what the FTIR identified as the \u2018hold up problem\u2019; where areas that can support only one gigabit capable network will suffer from operators holding off their investments due to strategic uncertainties.<\/p>\n

Across both policy questions, transparency of operators\u2019 build plans could be part of the solution. This would allow all relevant parties to allocate investment more efficiently. Of course, such a process could be easily gamed by larger operators to undermine competition, so it may well be that a regulated process is required.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

14. Speaking of competition and overbuild. Last year, the Independent Networks Co-operative Association (INCA) proposed the creation of a Common Wholesale Platform (CWP), through which alternative networks could provide wholesale services to third-party providers and ISPs (here<\/a>).<\/strong><\/p>\n

INCA believes that a CWP would enable groups of independent wholesale network providers to “combine together and offer a real competitive alternative to the limited number of large players which currently dominate the market<\/em>.” What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of this idea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

James’ Answer:<\/u><\/p>\n

There is an intuitive logic to making it easier for ISPs to navigate an increasingly fragmented market at the network level. Integrating with a new network infrastructure is complex and resource intensive, so creating a platform that avoids that process being required each time an ISP wants to operate over a new network would open up new infrastructure to many more potential customers.<\/p>\n

With that said, the practicalities of this are complex. It\u2019s not clear how the costs of a CWP would be shared and some altnets already have such platforms of their own, which may reduce their incentive to contribute to this scheme. It also isn\u2019t clear how such a model would adapt if the market does consolidate in the future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’d just like to thank James for taking time out from his day-to-day work to answer our questions in such an open and informative way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs at broadband ISP Gigaclear, James Fredrickson, has today highlighted to ISPreview.co.uk some of the challenges they face in rolling out their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to rural areas, and why they’re well placed to benefit from future consolidation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2716,1],"tags":[56,416],"class_list":["post-28338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-uk_isp_news","tag-fttp","tag-gigaclear"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"yoast_head":"\nGigaclear Interview - The UK Challenges of Building Rural Full Fibre - ISPreview UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs at broadband ISP Gigaclear, James Fredrickson, has today highlighted to ISPreview.co.uk some of the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/10\/gigaclear-interview-the-uk-challenges-of-building-rural-full-fibre.html\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/10\/gigaclear-interview-the-uk-challenges-of-building-rural-full-fibre.html\/2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gigaclear Interview - 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