“I would like to know what they think about the possibility of ceding the infrastructure relating to final third provision to a national/multiple local CICs to allow for local enterprise and development.

In other words would BT be open to the suggestion that they allow others to utilise those parts of their network that they find too costly to upgrade
thereby allowing the Govt to to fulfil its obligations with very little cost to BT and a massive increase in the number of people receiving NGA or
improved broadband?”

The above question fits in well with the broader subject of infrastructure sharing and takes the point further.

If BT is not willing to invest into certain areas on economic grounds then those assets should be made available for others, with more cost efficient methodologies and social objectives, to use to deliver service instead.

The Use it or Lose it principle

This is really not good enough and puts into question BT’s assertions that they are genuinely wanting to work with OFCOM, industry and communities to deliver Digital Britain.

Is BT too big to care?

Structural separation of Openreach from BT Group is now urgent, in the National Interest.

There follows part of an email received from a senior Openreach Ops Manager by an active rural CIC who applied to share a pole run, there is nothing  ’confidential’ about it and it has not been altered from the original.

“I am aware of the recent discussions and media interest in duct sharing & pole sharing with other telecoms providers, and I am sure you are aware that no such agreement is currently in place.
Ofcom has said that BT must develop the proposition around duct and pole access as they see it as a way of potentially driving more NGA deployment in areas where BT has no plans to roll out.

BT may have an initial view of a duct product by December 2010, and a launched product available around May 2011, but these dates are aspirational. A product for poles is likely to take a few months longer.

 
BT has already said that it is willing to open its ducts, subject to working through the right terms and conditions, including price, and all the practicalities, and will do this, through the Ofcom consultation response and through subsequent trials and product developments.

It will not be possible to shortcut this process at a local level with all of the safety, security, maintenance, charges and responsibilities undefined; and there are different proposals suggested depending on the different telecom structures around the country.
The reference to BT sharing poles with Electric Distribution companies is true for some parts of the country at the discretion of the power company concerned who own the poles. The permission for each individual pole concerned has an independent wayleave associated with it along with very strict conditions of use, responsibilities and rights. There are no circumstances where power companies share BT poles.”

The subject matter is how independent community networks might go about sharing existing BT infrastructure like telegraph poles in rural areas and comments are welcomed here regarding how feasible such a contract might be in practice, from a community perspective.

Having checked that there are no issues with eg Non Disclosure Agreements, please find attached scans of the relevant document which may be helpful in the wider context of pole and infrastructure sharing which Ed Vaisey mentioned was a priority area that he has asked OFCOM to investigate.

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