Alternative network operators MS3 and Brsk are separately facing more public protests against their use of wood poles for the deployment of new gigabit-speed Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP networks, this time in Hull (East Yorkshire) and St Helens (Merseyside), respectively.
Poles are popular because they’re quick and cost-effective to build (trenching is significantly more expensive), can be deployed in areas where there may be no space or access agreement to safely put or share new underground cables, are less disruptive (avoiding the noise, access restrictions and damage to pavements of major street works) and can be built under Permitted Development (PD) rights with only minimal prior notice.
However, many other people dislike them, typically due to perceptions of their negative visual appearance, as well as concerns about exposure to damage from major storms (example), deployments in areas of outstanding natural beauty or where poles haven’t existed before, the lack of more effective prior consultation, engineers that fail to follow safety rules while building and contractors that sometimes try to force them into small private gardens (rare, but we have seen it happen).
The latest examples of this come, firstly, from residents living on Scholars Drive in Hull who have just signed a petition against MS3’s decision to roll out poles in their area (BBC News), which has previously only had underground infrastructure. But despite the local objections, MS3 plan to continue the roll-out and locals have now started a wider petition.
Peter North, Local Councillor, said:
“[Residents have] unanimously opposed MS3’s proposals to install telegraph poles on their street. We will continue to support the residents who have done an incredible job of bringing the community together to resist this unwanted development. We hope that MS3 will reconsider their plans and install infrastructure that is more considerate to residents’ wishes.”
Meanwhile, over in Merseyside, residents of Billinge have been campaigning outside St Helens town hall against Brsk’s (Netomnia) local deployment of poles for similar reasons (St Helens Star). The related Billinge Together campaign claims “residents absolutely do not want poles” and have been calling on the council to “impose reasonable conditions and place on hold any work permits given to BRSK.”
The campaign group added that they also want to “ensure effective consultation with local residents, which is verifiable by evidence” (e.g. letters to every household, public meetings etc.) and for independent, as well as verifiable checks, to be undertaken on the suitability of underground methods of delivering full fibre broadband. Once again, there’s also a call for the UK government to block future pole deployments until a review has taken place.
A Spokesperson for Brsk said (July 2024):
“We will always endeavour to use as much existing infrastructure as possible, [as] this benefits our roll out in making it more efficient and faster to connect customers.
However, sometimes the existing infrastructure is insufficient for us to serve some premises, and on these occasions, we need to upgrade the infrastructure to provide services to all residents.
Recently, we conducted a thorough survey in Billinge and found that the existing infrastructure is not usable.
The area is currently served by buried cables and as such, no infrastructure exists that can be used.”
We should point out that Billinge is currently already covered by Virgin Media’s gigabit-capable broadband network. The same location is also planned to be covered by Openreach’s FTTP network in the near future, but it’s currently unclear whether the latter will be done by pole or underground (Openreach are likely to run into the same issues as Brsk).
As for Scholars Drive in Hull. The area already appears to have been reached by KCOM’s largely underground FTTP network, although both MS3 and Connexin have already covered most of the surrounding areas with similar technology.
However, KCOM has historically made it quite difficult and unattractive for rival operators to harness their existing cable ducts, which is why poles are often used. But the local incumbent is currently developing a trial with Connexin that may provide a future solution (here), although this remains a highly tentative proposition.
Finally, both the previous and current UK government have recently made it clear to network operators that they want them to “share existing infrastructure when installing broadband cables as the default approach; and where new infrastructure is needed, to install underground wherever possible before deploying new telegraph poles” (here and here). But network operators often correctly argue that this is what they already do.
The government is also working on a revision to the existing 2016 Code of Practice for all this, which is expected to result in more community meetings and better pre-build notifications (i.e. adding extra costs and time to network builds, but not stopping them).
The government naturally can’t completely stop poles from being deployed without damaging their own coverage targets, particularly after they pledged to make a “renewed push to fulfil the ambition of full gigabit [broadband] and national 5G coverage by 2030” (here) and are set to soften existing planning rules.
At the same time it’s important not to forget the many people who do want to see the new networks being deployment, regardless of whether it comes via poles, underground or otherwise. The greater competition typically results in lower prices, more choice of service and speeds etc. Poles have long been a common sight across much of the UK, and there are over 4 million of them in service.