Universal Service Obligation

Hello, I am hoping that someone may be able to help with a question or two.

1. We are a group of 4 eligible houses under the USO and we have received a FTTP quotation. (no 4G is available)

2.. We might prefer to use the voucher scheme and possibly include another 3 properties which are not USO eligible. Can anyone please explain whether our only alternative to the USO route would be the Community Broadband Scheme when it re-opens and could Openreach simply say that in response to any such approach they have other priorities and refuse to quote. If so, would this also apply to any other supplier- Cerberus for example?

in case it is relevant

3. We are not included on any pre 2026 roll out plans for fibre and a search of our postcode says that we cannot order fibre.

4. We are 2.5 miles from the village exchange which is fibre enabled with FTTC available in the village but not to us due to distance and because we are in any event exchange only lines.

many thanks

In reply to a post by Munrobagger:

Can anyone please explain whether our only alternative to the USO route would be the Community Broadband Scheme when it re-opens and could Openreach simply say that in response to any such approach they have other priorities and refuse to quote. If so, would this also apply to any other supplier- Cerberus for example?

The FTTPoD route will cost you more. The CFP process could easily take 6 months or more to quote, and it *still* might cost more.

Cerberus won't refuse to quote: they will happily quote for a set of linked FTTPoD orders. But it will almost certainly be far more expensive than your USO quote. For one thing, there is a separate £500 commissioning charge from Cerberus and another from BT Wholesale, *per property*. That's on top of what Openreach charge for FTTPoD. You won't have the £3,700 per property deduction that your USO quote should have. And you'll also have to pay a higher monthly charge for the first 12 months.

In short I'd say: if the USO figure you've been quoted is anything near acceptable, and you can get the vouchers to go with it, then take it. Leave the other 3 houses which are not USO-eligible to their own devices.

When your service is installed, then the other 3 houses can order FTTPoD on their own. They might even benefit from the near-network pricing, if the current trial is extended.

Many thanks, I realise that it could be worse but the USO quote is such (five figures per property) that the project probably will not go ahead so it might be worth a try. Vouchers cannot be used with a USO quote and £7000 per business and £3000 vouchers are in theory at least available which will amount to the same or more than the £3400 subsidy. If we can add more properties that are not USO eligible that would actually produce a greater contribution but yes I know that there are other costs going the alternative route. I did also wonder whether different departments might come to different figures and we might strike luckly! The four houses are very lose together in a rural hamlet

To get some context, what is the USO quote per property to get FTTP installed?

Well, if the USO quote is so high you can't afford it, then you have nothing to lose by trying the other options. It will cost you £250+VAT to get a quote for FTTPoD. £3000 per property vouchers will lose at least half in the FTTPoD excess costs; about £1200 inc VAT per property for the connection charges, and about £300 - £450 for the higher monthly rental for the first year, on top of the fact you're paying "business" prices.

(Aside: I notice Cerberus have made their FTTPoD rental fairer: it's now only 50% on top of their standard FTTP pricing. Previously it was 100% on top)

We tried a CFP for our road here: it took over 6 months to get to a price, and then the price was also sky high - despite the fact that I'd already had FTTPoD installed and there's a splitter at the end of the road!

£38k plus Vat including 3 x£3400. If all 4 went for it that would reduce by another £3400. Hence around £10k per property which not everyone would pay which would leave more to pay for me. I suppose we would ask Openreach to open their crowdfunding option so that each of us could say how much they would be prepared to commit to pay. Many thanks once again

Are there any other networks operating vaguely in your area that voucher funds could be pledged to?

I don’t think there any harm necessarily in getting an FoD quote, if you don’t mind paying the survey fees.

Realistically however (near network trial pricing aside) I would hugely doubt it to be be vastly less than the quote you have been provided. Given that the average FOD floor price was around £8K before near network pricing, gives you a gauge of where the absolute best case minimum is likely to be…so you could be burning survey fees just to have that certainty that it’s actually far more expensive.

I doubt that very much but will have a look, thanks. Am discounting Elon musk's satellites for now!

I suspect, as you say, that I am better pursuing USO. It is possible that 2 barn conversions currently used as holiday lets in the hamlet could be registered as separate addresses thus increasing eligible properties to 6. If all 6 properties registered their interest in USO that would produce 6x £3400 towards the cost but unless 6 were also then used as the cost per property which would then be less than £5000 allowing any one to demand it, that would still leave a big bill (but admittedly £6800 less than before) as not all properties would, in reality, want to order the service even though all 6 had registered an interest.