Hexatronic Cables - Does it Portend FTTP?

A gang of workers in hi-vis appeared in our street today with 2 trucks on the back of which were reels of what looked like blue cable labelled "Hexatronic". 1 van was marked "Highway Maintenance". Otherwise there were no markings. They were not OR.

They appeared to do something at the the foot of the telephone pole serving the houses & then spool out lengths of cable which they seemed to do nowt with. Then they were gone leaving no work to the roadway.

Looking at the telephone pole afterwards they had dug at its foot, attached a conduit & some of the blue cable to about halfway up.

What were they doing? Is FTTP coming to us soon?

Are you sure it's cable? Pull-ropes are normally blue, although they are very obviously rope. Or it might be some sort of subduct, which is a hollow tube.

Either way it's likely they'll be pulling something through, quite possibly fibre. Even if it is, that doesn't mean you'll get FTTP though - it could just be for a leased line, which is completely separate from the FTTP network.

Well, it looks smooth & not at all ropey. Also looking at Hexatronic's site I see they specialise in Fibre ket & cables.

If it were separate from FTTP why would they be messing around with OR's telephone pole & defacing it?

Edited by XRaySpeX (Tue 25-Jan-22 20:50:43)

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

If it were separate from FTTP why would they be messing around with OR's telephone pole & defacing it?

Could be a subco installing duct for a leased line upgrade to a mobile mast, or a new mobile mast being installed. Termination doesn't need to be near where you saw this. I saw OR lifting manholes and installing ducting near me in May last year, and it was August when the local EE mobile mast had a massive increase in bandwidth. Sadly no FTTP in my town.

Did you have a look on one.network or the local council street-works website which should note any works requiring a permit?

As others have said it could be numerous things. Not all fibre is necessarily FTTP and Openreach poles and ducts can be used under PIA by numerous operators. It could be a private circuit, leased line etc. which is impossible to know unless you have intel. The smooth blue cable could as noted be microduct or a small bundle of microducts which are used as a conduit/guide to blow fibre down at some later point.

Conclusion - don’t necessarily get your hopes up.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Conclusion - don’t necessarily get your hopes up.

I don't! I have no need or use for FTTP .

Whereabouts are you? This sounds very much like the Toob rollout in Southampton which is being done using PIA access to OpenReach poles and ducts.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

If it were separate from FTTP why would they be messing around with OR's telephone pole & defacing it?

Openreach are a large provider of leased lines, and they use their own poles and ducts for this.

But the leased line fibre network is completely separate from the FTTP network. If you get an Openreach leased line installed in your property, and after 3 years cease the service, your property still won't be able to take FTTP service (unless FTTP happens to have been installed in your area, completely independently).

Well, both Voda & CityFibre have mail-shotted the street offering Full Fibre BB. So the musta been it!