Mitcham 73 (The Willows) Gap fund estimate

Hi,

I moved into a Barratt new build development in Morden, South London, which whilst the Mitcham exchange has been fully upgraded to FTTC and all immediate surrounding properties have a FTTC service, this cabinet/development was not included in the Openreach survey for fibre broadband as the cabinet/development had not been built at the time of the survey and therefore deemed not commercially viable.

Last week I received the following email from BT following emailing Ed Vaizey back in May, but don't really know what the next steps should be to get funding for this as part of the government programmes? My reading of the email suggests that BT want the residents to pay to upgrade the cabinet at £15,500.

Can any one help or give advice on what I should do with this 'quote'? Thanks

"Further to your Email dated 2nd May 2013 to Councillor Maxi Martin and following extensive internal assessment within Openreach (including planning resource to understand the specifics of The Willows Development) � I can confirm that Mitcham 73 (The Willows) remains outside our commercial case for Deployment
However I am also able to provide an Gap fund Estimate for Enablment of Mitcham 73 (The Willows) to enable it for Fibre Broadband

The cost of the work for the provision of Fibre Broadband (provision of Customer Network Services) for Mitcham 73 (The Willows) will be £12,961.00 exclusive of VAT

Please note this is a Gap funded estimate only (subject to fibre capacity at the exchange) and a formal quotation and survey outcome will need to be issued prior to any formal contractual agreement between the local Community (legal Entity) and Openreach

Openreach will require a legal Entity (e.g. Residents Group) to contract with Openreach and will require 50% of funding to be provided on contract signature and the remaining 50% on completion of works (the final 50% triggers the cabinet being available for Communication Providers to offer service)

This will be to provide Infrastructure to enable Mitcham 73 (The Willows) for Fibre Broadband only

Please Note

� Mitcham 73 (The Willows) and any infrastructure provided will remain property of BT and will form part of the BT estate.
� BT will assume all future management and network upgrades as part of its responsibility one the cabinet is upgraded
� A Fibre Broadband service will need to be purchased by individuals from an ISP providing Fibre Broadband once the PCP�s are available
� Availability of a Fibre Broadband service is also dependent on line distances from the enabled cabinet Mitcham 73 (The Willows)
� Please note this is based on Private Funding (excluding any local authority funds which would require formal procurement and State Aid approval)
� Should the community of Mitcham 73 (The Willows) contribute to the funding of the cabinets it is their responsibility to check that their existing ISP offers fibre broadband Current providers offering the service are regularly updated at the following website: http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/for-business/bu...
� Whilst unable to take into account external factors such as power provision, the typical timeline for such deployments is approximately between seven and nine months.
� It is also assumed that the new cabinet will be located on public land. Should it be that the cabinet will need to be sited on private land, the cost of any possible ongoing wayleaves agreements would be in addition to the cabinet costs?
� Please note that the Mitcham 73 (The Willows) cabinet could form part of a local BDUK Broadband Procurement, It is therefore the responsibility of the funding body to understand this and make your own judgement call on the benefit gained by privately funding a cabinet, ahead of possible deployment funded by any county wide initiative that your Local Authority may be part of

This indicative cost estimate will be valid for 60 days from the date of this letter.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any additional information or clarification and we would be very happy to come and meet with you at the earliest available opportunity

Yours faithfully"

Does Surrey County Council have your postcode in any of its bduk project coverage? Though as you are a london borough it could fall into the mayors remit and thus they might fund it.

If not then maybe ask them to consider it, otherwise it is set up a community group to find the 12,000 needed.

If virgin is area then no bduk but as new build that seems unlikely.

are the developers still active on the site ? I would start by writing to them asking them to consider taking on this cost as part of the development of a 21st century estate that they overlooked.

In parallel you need to measure the interest from residents via flyers or knocking on doors. You might need to raise £17,000, at let's say £300 per head you need 60 people.

That's 60 people willing to stump up £300 and then whatever their ISP may want fur upgrading to fibre and any extra monthly charges.

If there are 240 people (bigger FTTC cab carries 288) then it's £75 each.

So measuring the demand is the critical first step. Perhaps finding out who would pay 75, 150, or 300. Good luck.