Full Fibre Fibre Heroes has announced it has paused plans to build its FTTP network to some areas of Shrewsbury after opposition from locals about plans to install new wooden telephone poles in order to deliver the service.
Poles or no Poles
Alt-Net FTTP network builder Full Fibre Fibre Heroes are building their brand new open access FTTP network across the UK aiming to cover 500,000 premises by 2025.
They started building their full fibre network in Shrewsbury, Shropshire back in 2019 starting in the Cherry Orchard area before moving to Abbey Foregate and Coleham area covering premises that only had access to ADSL services.
Fibre Heroes then decided to build there network out to cover the whole of Shrewsbury and after investment started this expansion in 2021.
Full Fibre Fibre Heroes focus on towns that have been forgotten by other big networks like Openreach and have limited FTTP coverage.
Shrewsbury is one such town and in many areas Fibre Heroes have been the first and still only FTTP ultrafast option available.
They have gone live to over 20,000 premises to date in Shrewsbury and being open access any ISP can sell on their network meaning you have a range of ISP’s to choose from which makes it more competitive compared to closed networks like Virgin Media who are also deploying their network across Shrewsbury.
Most of the time Fibre Heroes use existing Openreach ducts and poles to build their network which means their build is less disruptive, efficient and economical.
In some cases there is a need to install new wooden telephone poles which is a last resort when they have exhausted other options.
The most common reason for this is areas where there are no ducts and instead the existing copper telephone cables have been direct buried by Openreach which was common for a time in the 60’s/70’s.
Direct buried means the cables are directly buried under the ground to each house meaning it is impossible to pull though new fibre cables without either digging new trenches to each house and up each driveway/front garden or by putting up new poles.
The option of putting up new telephone poles to serve these houses is the most economical and efficient as one pole can serve many houses and saves having to dig up each driveway/front garden which can be more disruptive to the home owner.
It is common practice for new poles to go up in these situations and other network operators such as Openreach also choose this path.
Compliants
There are some areas of Shrewsbury that fall into the category of needing Poles to be installed and Fibre Heroes sent out letters to residents where this was planned to happen.
Telecoms firms do not need planning permission to install poles despite this Fibre Heroes took the proactive step of informing residents of the planned works.
In the letter (pictured below) they advised the poles would be between 9 and 11 meters high and 20 to 25 cm in diameter.
The letter also included a map plan showing the proposed location of the pole and a chance to write back to Full Fibre if there was an issue with the location.
This has prompted a number of complaints from some of the impacted residents who would rather the cables go underground as they want their street to remain clean and unspoilt.
In a statement Full Fibre Fibre Heroes have said:
“
We have paused our plan to install around 200 poles in some areas of Shrewsbury. Whilst we have worked hard to design and deliver this upgrade, there has been a significant amount of unease in the community, and it is never our intention to do this.
The costs and legal complexities of serving every property underground are significant for open access providers like ourselves, and our approach is always to build efficiently and cost effectively. We want to ensure that competitive services and prices are available on our network in the long term, and present a viable alternative to closed networks, such as Virgin Media.
Whilst we have paused the installation here, our firm belief remains that all communities across the UK need to be served by open access telecoms infrastructure. We will continue to build our open access network in other areas of Shrewsbury where, to date, we are able to offer services to over 20,000 premises.”
In the areas impacted Openreach are also planning to build FTTP and it is likely they will also opt to install telephone poles.
This may not happen for a number of years meaning these areas will be left without access to ultrafast broadband and due to the age of the copper a really poor broadband service.
There is a meeting for residents of the Kingston Drive and related areas on June 7th 2023 at St Giles Church Hall between 17:30 and 18:30 and further leaflets will be going out to impacted residents.
List of impacted postcodes
Here is a list of Postcodes where the above letters were sent out and will now not be getting Full Fibre installed due to the objections raised by some residents (note it may also impact some neighbouring postcode areas that would have been covered by the new poles) :
Postcode |
SY1 3XD |
SY1 3RL |
SY1 3PD |
SY1 3RN |
SY1 3XA |
SY1 3XB |
SY1 3RQ |
SY1 3RG |
SY1 3RJ |
SY1 3RU |
SY1 3RX |
SY1 3RZ |
SY1 3RY |
SY1 3RH |
SY1 3BA |
SY1 3SP |
SY1 3QB |
SY1 3QD |
SY1 3QE |
SY1 3QA |
SY1 3QJ |
SY1 3QF |
SY1 3QH |
SY1 3RS |
SY1 3PZ |
SY1 3RR |
SY1 3RW |
SY1 3RP |
SY1 3PY |
SY1 4EU |
SY1 4EL |
SY1 4TQ |
SY1 4TJ |
SY1 4NR |
SY1 4UA |
SY1 4TA |
SY1 4TT |
SY1 4UD |
SY1 4TY |
SY1 4TX |
SY1 4TS |
SY1 4TZ |
SY1 4TU |
SY1 4TR |
SY1 4TP |
SY1 4TN |
SY1 4TW |
SY3 0DT |
SY3 0DP |
SY3 0DR |
SY3 9QF |
SY3 9QG |
SY3 9QA |
SY3 9QB |
SY3 9QW |
SY3 9QR |
SY3 9QP |
SY3 9QH |
SY3 9QS |
SY3 9AG |
SY3 9QN |
SY3 9QJ |
SY3 9QL |
SY3 9QQ |
SY3 9HG |
SY3 9HJ |
SY3 9NJ |
SY3 9NL |
SY3 9NR |
SY3 9NN |
SY3 9PB |
SY3 9PE |
SY3 9PD |
SY3 7RA |
SY3 9JQ |
SY3 7JH |
SY3 7LU |
SY3 7PQ |
SY3 7TW |
SY3 7TP |
SY3 7QH |
SY3 7TF |
SY3 7TJ |
SY3 7TQ |
SY2 6DF |
SY2 6DE |
SY2 6DD |
SY2 6DN |
SY2 6ES |
SY2 6DJ |
SY2 6DZ |
SY2 6TE |
SY2 6TH |
SY2 6ER |
SY2 6TD |
SY2 6TF |
SY2 6TB |
SY2 6TQ |
SY2 6DX |
SY2 6TG |
SY2 6TA |
SY2 6SL |
SY2 6SE |
SY2 6SD |
SY2 6SF |
SY2 6SJ |
SY2 6SP |
SY2 6SQ |
SY2 6SW |
SY2 6PT |
SY2 6SN |
SY2 6SB |
SY2 6SR |
SY2 6SH |
SY2 6SG |
SY2 6LD |
SY2 6SA |
SY2 5NT |
SY2 5YU |
SY2 5NW |
SY2 5NS |
SY2 5NU |
SY2 5NN |
SY2 5NP |
SY2 5NR |
SY2 5NJ |
SY2 5NL |
SY2 5NH |
SY2 5NE |
SY2 5NG |
SY2 5LS |
SY2 5LX |
SY2 5LU |
SY2 5LZ |
SY2 5NA |
SY2 5ND |
SY2 5NB |
SY2 5LY |
A small number of residents in a local area should not have the power to stop vital infrastructure work that is desperately needed in Shrewsbury. People work from home, families with children have huge demands for fast broadband. I personally want this work to go ahead. You can sympathise with those who are against it but this is too important for a small group to stop the work that would benefit many people.
The current broadband quality is perfectly adequate for our needs.
We therefore do not see the need for the provision of an unnecessary ‘upgrade’, which is likely to have a negative aesthetic impact upon our neighbourhood.
Whose needs? Yours, or do you speak for whole of Shrewsbury? It’s a bloody telegraph pole for god’s sake. You might be ok but what about households that stream a lot of video on Netflix or Youtube, or people that might need to upload or download large files or people that want to game online? Just get over it.
Define “perfectly adequate”. Can you stream video? I would suggest you download “Four Yorkshireman – Monty Python” and watch it in your shoe box in middle of the road.
Well, there you go. You find your current broadband perfect for your needs, so screw everybody else who would like faster broadband because YOU don’t want to look at a pole when walking down the road.
It is selfish attitudes like yours that hold back the broadband infrastructure for the majority.
I can already see other houses, TV aerials, & lampposts. It is an absolute no brainer. If a few extra poles means that I can get decent internet, please do it.
I think the question should be ‘Why use poles where existing infrastructure is available?’ and I think this is the crux of public objection to Fibre Heroes and their modus operandi and not people objecting to fast / direct fibre broadband / FTTP / FTTH.
Absolutely; Fibre Heroes (or whomever they are this week – check companies house for a very interesting paper trail of ownership / responsibility) can use ‘planned development’ to force the use of poles if they wish, but the overriding guidelines from OFCOM and the UK Government are to use existing infrastructure where they are available (and we are fully ducted on our estate). The reason the Fibre Heroes use poles is that it’s cheap and so it’s the best vehicle for that company to get the maximum ROI against it’s ‘fibre bounty’ (c £200 paid by the government for each premises passed with fibre) so its in their business case that makes most sense, but it is literally that – ‘We will surface cable your entire estate to maximise our profit.’
No, the objection here was about installing an inferior delivery method for profit, not against high speed broadband. If everyone is harping on about Broadband being an essential utility now, why entrust the installation to a company that is placing it’s profit over service and longevity? It doesn’t make any sense…