Confused about Full Fibre Rollout

In the village we live in (Prestwood, Bucks) Swish Fibre have been working hard on trying to set a world record for the most sets of temporary traffic lights as they install fibre. I had assumed this was part of the changeover and they would be making fibre available to all premises connected to Great Missenden exchange.

I have also noticed that, in Prestwood, streets where Swish have completed their work then have the option of full fibre from the likes of BT, TT, Plusnet and others as well as Swish.

However in our lane we have not seen or heard anything about full fibre, except flyers from Trooli, who appear to be doing the fibre install for the neighbouring villages of Great Kingshill and Hughenden Valley.

One of our neighbours signed up for Trooli, but has now been told that because of unforseen expenses in installing fibre because of problems with the OR duct, which would require road closures, they have cancelled all orders from the lane.

I am confused about why we seem to be at the mercy of Trooli - wwould have thought that a single company would do a whole echange area.

Unfortunately I think you may have assumed incorrectly that there is some partnership or perhaps sharing arrangement between these various companies. Trooli and Swish operate wholly independently of one another, they are Alternative Networks (AltNets). They are also wholly independent networks and companies from Openreach.

BT and Plusnet are only available on the Openreach (wholesale) network. TalkTalk is also available on the Openreach network and select AltNets like CityFibre. Swish and Trooli to the best of my knowledge are single integrated retail networks, not offering any other third party ISPs access from their respective fibre networks only their own. Therefore if you wanted either of Trooli or Swish an ISP then they would need to lay their dedicated infrastructure in your street and their own respective drop cables to your home. However realistically if you wanted BT or Plusnet then you’d need to wait for Openreach to build to you (or perhaps CityFibre) but not Trooli or Swish.

In many places across the UK there are now multiple simultaneous FTTP networks in place in the same area - this is known as “overbuild”. Unconnected to this is the concept of Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) which is a service that Openreach offer to AltNets on an ongoing rental basis to give them access to the Openreach duct an pole networks for the AltNets to run their various fibre cables or subducts - rather then them having to trench their own ducts or put up their own poles. Often they will use a mixture of their own new dedicated ducts/poles together with PIA. It’s whatever works out most cost and time effective. Perhaps this is where your confusion is stemming.

It’s also important to note that networks won’t necessarily install to every premises in a given area. If the cost to install is too great or the installation requires particular wayleaves or there are other impediments etc then they may simply opt to not install there or come back at a later date once they’ve finished other areas. The same as Openreach.

You may find that even if one AltNet decides to not proceed in a particular street etc then Openreach may eventually cover it with their network.

Keep an eye on bidb.uk for any nearby related street works in the meantime.

Good luck🤞

Edited by Pheasant (Mon 22-Aug-22 05:52:28)

Many thanks for clarifying - hadn't realised they were completely seperate networks.

Basically then with Swish not planning on coming down our lane, and Trooli finding our lane too expensive so pulling out, then our only alternative is to hope that OR make their network available before they make the exchange fibre-only, which we have been told will be next year.

In reply to a post by RogerE:

Many thanks for clarifying - hadn't realised they were completely seperate networks.

Basically then with Swish not planning on coming down our lane, and Trooli finding our lane too expensive so pulling out, then our only alternative is to hope that OR make their network available before they make the exchange fibre-only, which we have been told will be next year.

There is no plan for Fibre only just digital only, which means copper lines will still exist in hard to reach area's and any phone connection will be digital eg VoIP via a modem. ADSL and FTTC will still be the data connection route for these copper only addresses.

If your exchange is noted as an FTTP Priority Exchange - see here for details - then the exchange served area would come under stop sell rules, as noted in the link. However if your premises is not served by Openreach FTTP by that date then you would continue to have access to copper products.

This is not to be confused with national WLR (PSTN) withdrawal which is slated for end of 2025.

These are 2 separate Openreach programmes of work.

Edited by Pheasant (Mon 22-Aug-22 16:19:53)

Feel free to PM me your address RogerE and I can look to clarify Swish's intentions.

Chris
Swish Fibre Team

In reply to a post by Swish_Fibre:

Feel free to PM me your address RogerE and I can look to clarify Swish's intentions.

Chris
Swish Fibre Team

While you’re here…can you tell us more about the new Swish Yorkshire subsidiary? 😄

Swish Fibre Yorkshire will commence in the North of the region across Boroughbridge, South Milford, Hillam and Sherburn in Elmet with many more to be announced.

For more head to https://www.swishyorkshire.com/

If you're on LinkedIn, we have a short video posted here.

Chris
Swish Fibre Team

Thank you.