Several people in the village have asked what’s happening with our fibre broadband upgrade. Getting precise information out of BT is, at the best of times not easy, but a general letter stating broad principles and an overall timetable is available. These are some of the points raised:
• Due to the complexity of the engineering process it takes 12-15months from planning to installation of fibre in an area.
• Every exchange will have its own bespoke equipment when it is upgraded and most will require additional mains and back-up power facilities.
• Some of our underground ducts have been buried for as long as 80 years and surveys can unearth new challenges. In the case of our village that should prove interesting.
• The siting of new cabinets is subject to planning approval from the local council and this can cause delays.
Fibre will be rolled out in your area by early 2012 and as already mentioned they are focused on ensuring as much coverage as possible. In some instances they are also looking at complimenting the FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) technology with new FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) technology to help reach as high percentage of coverage as possible.
This last piece is interesting, getting FTTP anywhere in the village would be a massive improvement for anyone who gets that opportunity. The last time any re-cabling took place in this village was probably the late sixties or early seventies, but in the end it will all be down to cost (nothing new there then!)
Another BT source that we’ve accessed says that the installation work is planned to start in October 2011 with completion for March 2012. The start date may slip a little but the end date is committed. They did say at the start of this exercise that it would be early 2012, so to give them their due, they seem at the moment to be sticking to these dates but we’ll keep you posted if there is any improvement in the timeline. Otherwise we will update date you in October anyway.
Graham De Wilde