News
U.K. regulatory regime hindering fibre rollout, network operators claim
The U.K. is lagging many other markets when it comes to dark fibre adoption, according to speakers at Carriers World 2017.
Zayo has a dark fibre customer in France whose business is selling handbags, Annette Murphy, SVP of fibre solutions at Zayo said on Tuesday. It also has similar customer relationships in other European markets, but not in the U.K.
"Fibre has not made it to the high street," in the U.K., Murphy said. "It’s just not done here. It’s not the norm."
The U.K. is still some way away from a world in which the local hairdresser would buy dark fibre, added Jatinder Sispal, head of carrier and national providers at CityFibre.
However, this could come "in the next few years," he said.
The U.K. does not offer a favourable regulatory environment for fibre network operators though.
France has a good open market that offers ease of doing business, unlike the U.K., where it is "much more expensive" to roll out fibre, said Murphy.
"We’re in a pretty sorry state in the U.K.," Sispal said, noting that fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) penetration is around 3%, compared with 50%-60% in Europe and 90%-plus in parts of Asia.
Last month Openreach scrapped plans to launch dark fibre access (DFA) after a tribunal overturned a requirement from the regulator for it to do so.
"The experience is nowhere near where it should be for the vast majority of people in the U.K.," Sispal said.
In the U.S., fibre rollout is being driven by the demands of mobile operators who need the connectivity to their towers, but again the U.K. the regulatory regime is standing in the way.
Duct and pole access (DPA) is only available within residential networks, so mobile operators can’t use BT’s ducts for 5G rollouts, Murphy said.
The U.K. "will lag" other markets until regulation is sorted, she insisted.
