{"id":39749,"date":"2024-10-18T09:51:10","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=39749"},"modified":"2024-10-18T09:53:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T08:53:26","slug":"acrimony-as-uk-parliament-debate-use-of-telegraph-poles-for-broadband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/10\/acrimony-as-uk-parliament-debate-use-of-telegraph-poles-for-broadband.html","title":{"rendered":"Acrimony as UK Parliament Debate Use of Telegraph Poles for Broadband"},"content":{"rendered":"

The vexed question of whether it’s always right to use “telegraph poles<\/em>“, which are far from popular with many UK communities, when deploying the new generation of gigabit broadband ISP networks came up for debate in parliament yesterday. MPs broadly called for change and stronger rules are coming “early<\/em>” in 2025, but whether they will be enough remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

First things first. The United Kingdom, not unlike many other countries, is already home to millions of poles (both wood and metal) – these are frequently used for electricity distribution and street lighting, as well as telecoms and smart sensors. Suffice to say that poles are a common sight across the country (if you live in such an area then they’re as normal as traffic lights) and form a key part of how gigabit broadband operators are choosing to deploy new full fibre (FTTP<\/a>) networks.<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> The Revised Cabinet and Pole Siting Code of Practice Nov 2016<\/a> covers such deployments, but it is voluntary.<\/div>\n

Telecoms operators typically like poles because they\u2019re very quick and cost-effective to build (several times cheaper than trenching), 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

The previous government, driven by its targets for expanding gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure “nationwide<\/em>” (c.99% coverage) by 2030 under their \u00a35bn Project Gigabit<\/a> programme, even facilitated this by cutting red tape to help make such work as easy as possible. This, along with other changes and investment programmes, has helped to attract tens of billions of pounds in private investment and spurred a massive commercial deployment of new networks.<\/p>\n

As a result of all that, some 85% of premises across the UK now have access to gigabit-capable broadband services (here<\/a>), and Ofcom<\/a> predicts this will reach around 97-98% by May 2027 (here<\/a>). So far this approach has clearly been successful. But poles aren’t everybody’s cup of tea and, with such a significant amount of related civil engineering occurring, it’s perhaps no surprise that there has also been a rise in complaints from residents.<\/p>\n

The parliamentary debate<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Over the last few years’ we’ve reported on multiple complaints and protests against the deployment of poles – these are often particularly common in areas that haven’t previously had poles before (i.e. the past infrastructure was underground) or where several gigabit broadband networks may already exist.<\/p>\n

Related issues typically highlight the negative visual appearance of poles, as well as concerns about their exposure to damage from major storms, the lack of effective prior consultation (often there isn’t any, except an easily missed notice on the street), creating obstructions for pavement users when poorly placed (e.g. wheelchairs, prams), the duplication of existing infrastructure or engineers that fail to follow safety rules while building etc.<\/p>\n

Yesterday’s debate in parliament<\/a>, which was tabled by Labour MP Laurence Turner, saw other ministers echo the aforementioned complaints from their own constituencies (there was little sympathy for network operators). Some MPs also highlighted issues where strong protests by local residents are completely ignored or operators had pledged to only build underground, before later deploying poles (note: plans can change after engineering surveys, which may identify problems). The issue of poor community engagement was a common complaint.<\/p>\n

Laurence Turner MP said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“In seeking to address these concerns, a number of residents in my constituency have, individually and collectively, attempted to follow the steps set out in the code of practice, including the complaints process. However, the code of practice, in its current form, fails to provide sufficient redress. It states that a complaints procedure should be in place, but it fails to go further than a company providing written responses detailing why a complaint is accepted or rejected. Frankly, that is not good enough. We must focus on preventing poor practice, as well as encouraging the best.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally, there were the usual calls for greater infrastructure sharing<\/strong>, which is an extremely complicated area. Some MPs and their constituents believe this is an easy problem to resolve and have a tendency to over-simplify the challenges. Alex Ballinger MP (Labour) asked: “Does my hon. Friend agree that if there is accessible infrastructure underground already, broadband providers should use that?<\/em>” If only it were so easy.<\/p>\n

Most network operators already do everything possible to share existing poles and ducts, since that\u2019s a lot more cost-efficient than building new stuff (e.g. Openreach<\/a>\u2019s network is widely re-used by rivals via a regulated solution as they have a dominant market position). But this isn\u2019t available to every location and sometimes local restrictions, as well as any limitations (commercial or practical) imposed by existing operators, mean that it\u2019s not always possible (e.g. sometimes no viable underground alternatives exist to poles, such as if past cables have been direct buried without ducts).<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a smaller network operator might build a new trench and ducting but keep it closed to rivals in order to protect the value of that high-risk investment (i.e. not allowing other altnets a free ride). If they weren’t able to do that, then they might have just built poles instead or not deployed at all.<\/p>\n

The existing Access to Infrastructure (ATI) Regulations 2016<\/strong>, which applies to all operators, does include provisions on the exchange of information about existing infrastructure, and the right to access that infrastructure on fair and reasonable commercial terms etc. But this doesn\u2019t matter much if a commercially viable deal cannot be reached. However, the recent efforts between Connexin<\/a>, MS3<\/a> and KCOM<\/a> in Hull suggest that, with enough of a push, solutions can sometimes still be found (here<\/a>). But KCOM<\/a> also has an incumbent position in Hull, which means they face regulatory pressures that other altnets do not.<\/p>\n

Click over to read the government’s response on page 2..<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The previous government did attempt to change the ATI Regs in order to require more infrastructure sharing, but this didn’t proceed because some smaller and more vulnerable networks (altnets) said they were concerned about the risk of \u201cunintended consequences<\/em>\u201d if changes to those rules ended up undermining their investment case (here<\/a>). Such operators also expressed \u201climited interest in using non-Openreach<\/a> or non-telecoms infrastructure<\/em>\u201d (i.e. it\u2019s hard to beat Openreach<\/a>\u2019s regulated product).<\/p>\n

In addition, several MPs then called on the Government to adopt a different approach that would still make it easy to deploy poles in hard-to-reach rural areas, albeit while making it harder to build them in more urban locations. But that would run the risk of disincentivising many operators from many such investments in the first place.<\/p>\n

The Government response<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The UK Government\u2019s Minister for Telecoms, Sir Chris Bryant<\/strong>, responded to the debate with a fairly well-rounded summary and update on their plans. In particular, Chris noted that “the vast majority of companies operating in this sphere are doing so entirely responsibly<\/em>“, before adding that “a few are behaving like cowboys<\/em>” and “drinking in the last chance saloon<\/em>“. But he also “encouraged competitors to tell the two or three companies that are not playing by the rules that they are bringing all of them into disrepute<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

Just to recap. The new Labour-led government, much like the old Conservative-led one, previously called 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>\u201d and pledged to \u201crevise<\/em>\u201d the existing Code of Practice<\/strong> (as linked earlier).<\/p>\n

Sir Chris yesterday also told parliament that he could “perfectly understand<\/em>” why a commercial operator might not want to share their infrastructure with a competitor, which he said is the reason why producing the new Code of Conduct “has taken a while<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> INCA’s separate Infrastructure Sharing Group<\/a> (ISG) is currently trying to bring altnets together to foster more pole, duct and cabinet space sharing (here<\/a>), although we don’t yet know what practical outputs that will deliver.<\/div>\n

Sir Chris Bryant (MP), UK Telecoms Minister, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I will be very clear: the vast majority of companies operating in this sphere are doing so entirely responsibly. They are doing a great favour for the nation in rolling out broadband of the kind of speed that everybody wants. I note the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Cat Eccles) made about other countries in Europe; of course we aspire to that coverage for everybody across the UK.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of companies are operating responsibly but, frankly, a few are behaving like cowboys. As a Government and as a Parliament, I think we sometimes need to say to cowboys that they are drinking in the last chance saloon. I have made that abundantly clear to some of the operators. I know that some operators are striving to co-operate with one another and with BT<\/a> Openreach to ensure that no unnecessary street furniture suddenly appears and that there is full consultation with the local community before a road is dug up for a new duct or a new pole appears. Companies that are abiding by the code of conduct and fulfilling their obligations are almost as fed up as my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Northfield and other hon. Friends; indeed, I am sure we could fill the whole Chamber with hon. Members who are equally fed up with the few companies that are bringing the whole system into disrepute.<\/p>\n

That matters, because in the end the most important thing is that the wider strategy is right. We want to deliver good-value, very high-speed, more than ultrafast, gigabit-capable broadband based on fibre to the whole UK as fast as possible without having to provide vast amounts of taxpayers\u2019 money. We therefore need to do so on the basis of commercial roll-out. Of course it is right that that should not be on the basis of monopoly and that competition, where possible, should drive choice for consumers and cheaper prices. That part of the strategy is absolutely right.<\/p>\n

The part of the strategy that the previous Government were a bit more relaxed about\u2014in fact, Ministers used to say categorically that they were completely relaxed about it\u2014was overbuild. That has meant several companies digging up the road one after another, as has happened in some parts of the country. It has also meant several companies deciding that they need their own set of poles, or poles appearing in an area that had never previously had poles and in which ducts had been laid out but not used.<\/p>\n

I am not completely relaxed about overbuild. I am concerned about it, because I know that a lot of constituents up and down the land are concerned. However, I want to make sure that commercial operators that are abiding by the rules and the code of conduct have every opportunity to continue to do so, in order that their commercial investments are not disrupted unnecessarily and we can deliver the infrastructure that we need across the whole United Kingdom. In the end, I want the cheapest possible prices for people and the highest possible capacity across the network for every property in the land. I would issue one slight corrective in this debate. Sometimes people say that this is a battle between urban and rural, but in fact some of the issues in urban areas are completely different from those in rural areas, and some are identical. I am not sure whether that dichotomy is fair.<\/p>\n

My preference is for ducts wherever possible. That is not always possible, for a whole series of different logistical reasons in different areas. It is an undeniable fact that providing connectivity via poles is likely to be something like 10 times cheaper than doing it via ducts, so I fully understand why commercial operators want to install poles. I understand that that could mean that there will be poles in areas that have never had them before, and, in some areas, that is something that we will have to live with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Questions naturally remain over what practical changes the new Code of Practice will actually deliver, since any overly burdensome changes risk increasing the costs of deployment for operators and thus potentially reducing their roll-out plans (i.e. causing a negative impact on the government’s coverage targets). But we do anticipate that it will most likely result in a need for greater pre-build consultation with communities, as well as some improvements to the complaints process.<\/p>\n

The catch here is that Ofcom<\/a> has very limited powers in this area (here<\/a>), so it may take more than this to have much of an impact. The regulator is currently investigating a related pole issue with Brsk in Manchester (here<\/a>), but that is for a rare and specific issue that seems unlikely to impact many (or any) other deployments across the UK.<\/p>\n

“However, I am absolutely clear that if voluntary adherence does not work, we reserve the right to change the law. We are in earnest about that, because we are aware of the concerns people have expressed<\/em>,” said Sir Chris Bryant<\/strong> while referencing the possibility that PD rights could be removed from pole deployments. But we’d hope this would, if ever enacted, be a targetted and temporary sanction, not industry-wide, as the latter would be suicidal for investment and coverage plans.<\/p>\n

Finally, Sir Chris said that he expected the new code of conduct would be “published in the early new year<\/em>,” at the “very latest<\/em>“, so it sounds like we won’t be seeing this surface by the end of 2024. The difficulty here remains in finding the right balance, and we must not forget the voices of those who don’t care what type of infrastructure is used, just so long as they can access the gigabit broadband service they want. Such voices are often overlooked and are sometimes fearful of speaking out, particularly when neighbours may be outside protesting a very different point of view.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The vexed question of whether it’s always right to use “telegraph poles“, which are far from popular with many UK communities, when deploying the new generation of gigabit broadband ISP networks came up for debate in parliament yesterday. MPs broadly called for change and stronger rules are coming “early” in 2025, but whether they will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[471,56,36,38,1997],"class_list":["post-39749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk_isp_news","tag-bduk","tag-fttp","tag-ofcom-regulation","tag-politics","tag-uk-gigabit-programme"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@ispreview\/113327575682458985","error":""},"yoast_head":"\nAcrimony as UK Parliament Debate Use of Telegraph Poles for Broadband - ISPreview UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The vexed question of whether it's always right to use "telegraph poles", which are far from popular with many UK communities, when deploying the new\" \/>\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\/2024\/10\/acrimony-as-uk-parliament-debate-use-of-telegraph-poles-for-broadband.html\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/10\/acrimony-as-uk-parliament-debate-use-of-telegraph-poles-for-broadband.html\/2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Acrimony as UK Parliament Debate Use of Telegraph Poles for Broadband - 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