{"id":39378,"date":"2024-09-13T08:03:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T07:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=39378"},"modified":"2024-09-14T07:12:11","modified_gmt":"2024-09-14T06:12:11","slug":"telecoms-minister-updates-on-effort-to-limit-uk-broadband-poles-via-infrastructure-sharing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/09\/telecoms-minister-updates-on-effort-to-limit-uk-broadband-poles-via-infrastructure-sharing.html","title":{"rendered":"Telecoms Minister Updates on Effort to Limit UK Broadband Poles via Infrastructure Sharing UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK Government’s Minister for Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant, yesterday held a round table meeting with a small selection of network operators in an effort to try and drive home the need for greater “infrastructure sharing<\/em>” in order to \u201cend the deployment of unnecessary telegraph poles<\/em>\u201d when rolling out new gigabit-capable broadband ISP networks.<\/p>\n

Just to recap. The UK has long been home to several million poles (i.e. they’re a common sight in many areas), which are often around 9 metres high and used for delivering everything from telecoms (broadband, phone etc.) to electricity cables (most are wood, but some are metal).<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Check out the Revised Cabinet and Pole Siting Code of Practice Nov 2016<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Network operators like these because they\u2019re quick and cost-effective to build, can be deployed in areas where there may be no space or access 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<\/strong> (PD) rights with only minimal prior notice.<\/p>\n

Suffice to say that the use of poles has been continuing to expand as part of both the commercial and publicly funded roll-out of gigabit-capable broadband networks. The previous government even facilitated this by cutting red tape to help make such deployments as easy as possible.<\/p>\n

However, over the last few years there\u2019s been a notable rise in complaints about new poles, particularly from parts of East Yorkshire and Greater Manchester that have only ever known underground cables. Such gripes typically highlight their negative visual appearance, poor positioning, concerns about exposure to damage from major storms, the lack of effective prior consultation, the duplication of existing infrastructure or engineers that fail to follow safety rules etc.<\/p>\n

The new Labour-led government, much like the old Conservative-led one, recently responded to this by calling on broadband operators to \u201cend the deployment of unnecessary telegraph poles<\/em>\u201d (here<\/a>), to \u201cshare existing infrastructure when installing broadband cables as the default approach<\/em>” and reiterating a pledged to \u201crevise<\/em>\u201d the existing Code of Practice<\/strong> (as linked above). The latter will most likely result in greater pre-build consultation with communities.<\/p>\n

Sir Chris Bryant also warned that he would \u201cnot shy away from changing the law, should companies fail to listen to communities<\/em>\u201d (i.e. a reference to the possibility of hardening or removing PD rights on poles). Last month the minister said that he planned to meet representatives from Openreach<\/a> (BT<\/a>), Virgin Media<\/a> (O2<\/a>) and smaller networks (e.g. KCOM<\/a>, CityFibre<\/a>, MS3<\/a>, Brsk and IX Wireless) on 12th September 2024<\/strong> to discuss how they can better \u201cput residents\u2019 concerns at the forefront of their plans<\/em>\u201d via a revised Code of Practice.<\/p>\n

The meeting took place yesterday and we’ve since been sent a brief summary of the key bullet points, which I’ve opted to paste below as they don’t say anything that we haven’t already heard before.<\/p>\n

DSIT (Gov) Summary of Key Meeting Points<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n