Gloucestershire Scrutiny Committee Broadband Inquiry Presentation - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Gloucestershire Scrutiny Committee Broadband Inquiry Presentation

9/9/14 Natalia Silver / Matt Smith

Fastershire deployment

• To increase access to Broadband in rural areas
• Partnership between two counties
• One of four national pilots
• Bespoke procurement
• Contract signed with BT December 2012
• Mobilisation leading to delivery since July 2013
• Digital inclusion and communications

Investment in Gloucestershire

Rationale

• Market Failure
• Without subsidy rural areas will become increasingly marginalised by lack of

sufficient connectivity

• Economic
• Fast, reliable & resilient internet access increasingly important for business &

society

• Evermore bandwidth hungry applications entering the market
• Greater need to be running multiple applications across the same connection
• Increased need to access fast upload potential particularly for some business

sectors

• Community
• Access to services
• Reduced Isolation

The Challenge

• NGA Broadband (& for the most part Fibre) viewed

as the future proofed solution

• Commercial Deployment to date has only extended

into the more urban areas of the UK

• Commercial viability in rural Herefordshire and

Cotswolds some of the lowest in the UK

What will be Delivered

• Deployment 2013-2015

– >1m working hours – 2,500 Km fibre laid – C 800 structures – Can involve some disruption

• Peak Deployment 2014/15
• Coverage

– 100% USC – Satellite – C 90% Fibre FTTC &FTTP

Eligible Area

FTTC & FTTP

Eligible Vs Non Eligible

• Definition
• Expert reports
• OMR – BT, Virgin & Others
• State Aid Consultation

Eligible Vs Non Eligible

• Refinement (Prioritising rural areas)

– Potential audit issues (based on postcodes but served by technical catchments, need to assure the eligibility of costs) e.g. Cab 209 in Cheltenham – Assumed Data Issues (visa-versa) – Time Lag for New Estates (as we saw with Kingsway) – Likelihood of commercial investment in the future – Likelihood of acceptable current speeds (82% of refined postcodes receive over 10Mbps) though this is not universal clearly

Stage 1 & 2

The geographical spread will change Commercial Likely position at the end of 2015

Governance

• Formal partnership between the two councils
• Local authority cabinet committees
• Project Board
• Strategic Operational Meetings
• BDUK oversight
• The team

Contract Management

• Optimal Deployment (Non Interventionist)
• Milestone Areas
• Payment Mechanism

– Schedule 5 – Premise Targets & Subsidy cap – Longstop Dates – Delay, Relief & Premise Cap

• Premises Passed Assurance Process

Differences between Fastershire & Framework

Fastershire Framework Pros Greater Rural Spread More rural delivery tackled earlier Long stop dates & subsidy caps provide greater contractual controls Baseline means BT need to deliver against the original picture Earlier delivery of high volumes Less slippage likely in early deployments Less management and oversight burden Cons Slower delivery of high volumes Slippage more likely as difficult areas tackled first Lag in financial spend as BT are prevented from claiming for costs until triggers are met Difficult areas tackled later BT may be less inclined to deliver these later in the programme BT able to deliver against what exists making the challenge easier but with the affect of less rural delivery

Fastershire Broadband Strategy 2014-16

• New Funding
• New OMR / State Aid Consultation – Premises Level
• Redefined Eligible Area (Accounting for Persisting Market Failure)

Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Cotswolds Procurement

Area 435 Km2 Population Total Premises = 4,135 Residential Premises = 3,922 Business Premises = 213 Demand Registration 675 household responses 77 Business Survey Responses Existing Provision

According to Ofcom, the postcodes for which they have meaningful data within the lot area shows a mean average of 4.8Mbps and a median of 4.7Mbps Cotswold Wireless also operate in the area

Timescales Begin procurement October 2014 Completion 2016 Indicative Max Subsidy £1.7M

Questions Received

• Q. “When the purpose of the initiative was to provide fibre to

rural locations which are not commercially viable, why has Fastershire prioritised more densely populated areas with the consequence that the money has run out to upgrade the most difficult locations?”

• A. We are not, due to refinement, Milestone Area targets and

subsidy caps, Fastershire has maximised rural delivery. However there is not enough money to solve the problem. We are also a testing ground for new technologies such as WTTC in Hardwicke

Questions Received

• Q. “What guarantee can Fastershire give that rural

areas like Chedworth and Yanworth as F10 locations will get fibre in the 2016 round? All solutions depend

• n having fibre backhaul to a nearby exchange.
• A. Unfortunately at this stage we can not give

guarantees regarding specific localities. We need to progress the intentions of the Fastershire strategy 14- 18 with suppliers.

Commercial viability – what factors are present Commercial programme – headline numbers for Gloucestershire On hold cabs – status, headline numbers and specific examples New Technology – e.g. WTTC, FTTRN and the potential to extend coverage