Byers Green, B4RN and Better news in 2012?

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A quick summary of this week's events, and a seasonal greeting.....

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com


It would seem that community pressure does indeed force BT to succumb. Byer's Green, one of the villages visited by John Popham during Can't Get Online week, have been informed that, despite meeting none of BT's criteria for FTTC, the villagers are to receive the upgrade.

From The Byers Green Community Forum


Happy Christmas to all our readers.


Your Christmas present follows below.


"Following our recent meeting with BT Openreach a 'demand assessment' review of the Broadband take-up in Byers Green was commissioned. This has now been analysed by BT Openreach and they have determined that the demand is sufficient to justify the necessary investment to provide a 'fibre to cabinet' upgrade of the Byers Green service.

The current expectation is that this will be installed some time in mid 2012."


You made it possible.

The view here is that it's a shame that the community has not sought a more permanent solution that doesn't hand over all the money each month far into the future to BT, and that a community social enterprise could at least have re-spent the cash locally, but one can only hope that 100% of the community can be served with at least something better than that which is currently provided by the incumbent.

And if you are a community who has not yet been told there will be an upgrade of any flavour, Byer's Green should offer more than a glimmer of hope. And why not aim for the true target - FTTH? After all, if it doesn't prove within, say, three years that it will be viable to BT in the long-term.... well, let's say there would be some hats eaten!

B4RN

Yesterday, it was standing room only at the B4RN launch, with communities and organisations from all over the UK filling seats and floorspace, much to the bemusement of some local people who obviously hadn't quite grasped what a unique and interesting project B4RN is for so many around the country. The opening of the share offer is a major milestone for community FTTH, and 5TTH is proud to have been a part of making history. Not quite Fiver To The Home but as close as you are ever likely to come.

Barry Forde was as impressive as ever, and listening to him talking tech to Seb from ThinkBroadband during the post-event networking about Juniper, IX, etc etc was one of those moments that reinforces the conviction that B4RN is set on exactly the right route. Not a single negative report has come out. In fact, here are some of the blogs, stories, tweets etc so you can read all about it.

• Pauline Rigby (Optical Reflection) 
• BBC Radio Lancashire
• John's Popham's Live audiocast
• The tweets
• Brian Condon's Liveblog
• Rory Cellan-Jones on the BBC Technology blog
• Ian Grant on Broken Telephone
• ThinkBroadband

Letters, videos and tweets of support from the Duke of Westminster, the first Google Fiber city- Kansas, EU Commissioner Neelie Kroess, Andrew Stott (Director of Digital Engagement at the Cabinet Office), ECFiber in Vermont, Dave Isenberg, and many, many others show just how much goodwill there is towards the success of this project. And its success may well raise many questions about the BDUK process during 2012......

However, there are those for whom the green eyed monster is showing because this FTTH, community led, 100% community benefit solution is now fully underway. Disingenuous attempts to dissuade potential investors are unlikely to work though because this is a value for money, long-term (not interim) solution where the Management Team are absolutely determined that every penny that can will stay within the community. And as has been discovered elsewhere, once the fibre goes into the ground to the first few people, communities get IT.

Share application forms can be downloaded from http://www.b4rn.org.uk so get yourself a great Xmas pressie and Buy a Bit of B4RN!

Breaking News: as I type this, Broken Telephone has published the worrying story that the VOA may be likely to further hamper efforts to lay fibre unless you are BT with a story headlined "VOA ready to bung BT billions". Not such great news.

And Finally......

Many, many thanks to everyone for the support, stories, and comments to 5TTH. There will now be a period of radio silence as family and personal commitments take precedence, even for this obsessed one! Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and New Year and let's hope that 2012 sees much more in the way of progress towards FTTH in the UK, rural and urban. And especially from communities who should not be tied to the lengthy BDUK process, the incumbent or interim solutions, and who should be allowed to innovate and deliver unhindered by bureaucracy, greed and downright short-sightedness. See the light  xxLindsey

......walks away singing, "C'mon baby light my fibre"

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Fibre Tax Update

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Read more! This just in on the issue of business rates aka Fibre Tax.....

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

In future, the VOA propose to assess super fast broadband networks on the basis of per home connected rather than per home passed which will help with rates costs in the start up phase.

For those who missed the round table in December (that'll be nearly everyone involved in fibre tax!), the docs from that meeting are available on the BIS site.


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Simple acid test for BDUK

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Read more! We have multiple examples from around the world now of costs for rural FTTH so....

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com



When BDUK get to choose which projects go forward, this should be a very simple way in these times of cuts and best value spending reviews to judge them:

On average, the maximum that rural FTTH to a property should cost is £1000. In the majority of cases it will be under £750.

Therefore, using my now infamous mathematical skills, £230Million divided by £1000 is 230,000 homes. Divided by £750, it is 306,667 homes.

If the proposed projects cannot GUARANTEE to connect up between 230k and 306k homes with FTTH, don't choose them! Or we will be wasting the digital dividend dosh - we only have it the once.

And don't get me started on how much further this digital dividend money would go if we took the VOA right out of the equation and waived all fibre tax / business rates on these projects. That is, as long as the choice of who will deliver these pilots is not made on who can come up with the fanciest tender bid (as possibly was the case in Cornwall?), in which case, we probably won't get any rural FTTH at all.
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Special dispensation from VOA on wireless tax etc

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Read more! Some people seem to have missed the point of the post about property tax on wireless. Yes, we all know that ducts, poles and masts have _always_ fallen under the property rating rules, but the point is that no wireless (wi-fi etc rather than mobile) or community network has to date been required to pay it, until now.

Yes, it was undoubtedly an oversight by VOA, and it certainly hasn't been flagged up in the last decade since community networks etc started to be deployed. Luckily, the lack of this tax has allowed 'many flowers to bloom', lessons to be learnt, awards to be won across the EU, innovation to have flourished, and standards to be set that are now expected within that sector. However, the enactment of the tax at this stage can only have negative effects on those who are most likely to deliver and receive the "Final/First Third" connectivity required.

We are about to pour a toxic solution onto our beautiful and potentially to be envied community and co-operative, open and wireless networks flowerbed. The Rochdale Pioneers, responsible for so much of the phenomenally successful global co-operative movement, would be equally as aghast at this short-term and greedy thinking from within our own shores as many of us are.

The reason why the First Third is receiving the attention it is is primarily because of the fact it is the hardest to make an economic case for and therefore the commercial operators have it last on their list to provide connectivity to. Ergo, there is much talk of the intervention required in order to ensure that it happens, sooner rather than later.

What government needs to do is to think of **ALL** the ways in which they can positively encourage that First Third to be attractive to investors and those involved in deployment. Adding additional financial burdens and further weakening the business case is not going to encourage the First Third investment and must be seen for the lunacy it is. Whilst it may well fill up the VOA (and hence Treasury coffers) with a pitiful sum of money, it will be the death knell for much that has been proven to be great over the years and has led to so much innovation in the wireless and rural broadband sectors.

So, for instance, the creation of the levy to help that investment happen ought to be part of that joined up thinking. Sadly, though, it seems the initial proposal was to tax ALL telecoms, including mobiles, and hence raise far higher revenues but this has been dumbed down to just landlines. However, all of us know that the administration of that fund and ensuring it reaches the parts other broadband operators won't, is going to cost too much of the fund and will therefore reduce the available capital to an amount that will achieve little of what is actually required.

So, to strengthen the economic case for sustainable networks in the First Third, it is imperative that all the areas where there are currently issues and hence associated costs are addressed and, where possible, removed. For instance:

*Those who are involved with planning issues need to be engaged in reducing the stresses and costs on those seeking to install ducts, poles and masts in order to deliver to the First Third. Currently, it can take months or even years to negotiate the location of a street cab, duct or mast - all of which costs money and eats into the schedule for deployment, unnecessarily.
*Those who are endeavouring to deliver open networks through co-operative or not for profit mechanisms need to be considered and encouraged through reduced financial burdens eg tax relief, special dispensation from rates etc. The long-term benefits of these approaches seem to be ignored in favour of hardnosed, greedy, commercial practises that benefit a very small minority. It needs to be the other way round.
*The property rating on both of the essential elements of FiWi Next Gen Access - Fibre and Wireless - needs to be carefully considered with a long-term view to the harm it may cause to UK PLC economy if it is applied to all ducts, poles, masts and network models at this stage.
* Aggregation of telecoms within regions for public, private and community sectors needs to be given much more thought than it has been to date. Why pay with public money to connect a school if the pupils and parents are then restricted from using the same backhaul when it is dormant? Ditto councils. Fat pipes that do nothing over weekends and after hours when the citizens the council serves could be using those very same pipes is an idiocy. And a terrible, immoral waste of public money.

Unless a lead is taken in ensuring that joined up thinking happens across all sectors involved, all departments, all agencies, all organisations, all of the COMMUNITY, we are heading for an expensive fall that will leave many in this country with substandard connectivity far into the future. This country is in more than enough financial trouble without exacerbating that further in the broadband arena.









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The Importance of Communication - Colloquium and COTS

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Read more! In order to get this country out of the Digital Dark Ages and into the light, we all need to communicate and work together.

Many individuals and organisations are making strenuous efforts, often seemingly and illogically against the flow, to drag this country into the world of next generation communications. This 'dragging' includes both infrastructure and applications, as well as an under-educated populace, which including politicans, RDAs (Regional Development Agencies), government departments, citizens, businesses, telcos and so on.

It is apparent that education and coming to compromises on many issues will be crucial to the success of these endeavours, and in order to do, people need to talk, share ideas, work together and if necessary, rock the boat to achieve forward motion (and possibly the loss overboard of some of the least workable ideas!).

So, here are a list of things which currently require attention in deadline order:

1) BSG has put together a spreadsheet of ratings scenarios for property rating for the VOA (Valuations Office Agency). Comments are required by 2nd September 2009.

2) FTTH Colloquium - part of the JustNextGenUs 2009 event in Hull, this morning session will bring together all those interested in community networks, whether suppliers, Parish and County Councillors, residents, LSP members, planning departments, community organisations, ISPs, etc etc etc. Funding, business models, ownership, technical aspects of FTTH and NextGen, community engagement, education and more will be covered. There will also be an exhibition of next gen equipment and services. Attendance will be £10 for the session. Donations are also welcomed to share with RNLI Spurn Point.

3) COTS Meeting - next Thursday 3rd September, afternoon session. A second opportunity to learn about the COTS Project and get involved to help make it workable for community networks and operators/telcos to work together for a viable nextgen future. Sign up now to attend the free COTS meeting in Hull

4) If you are attending either of the above sessions (remotely or in person) at the JustNextGenUs event, please visit the Fibrevolution forum to add any questions, introduce yourself, and get involved in the ongoing discussions.

5) All-party Parliamentary enquiry into Digital Britain targets, in particular broadband speed. Deadline 25th Sept 2009.

Anything else I have missed for this coming month?

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Rateable Value

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Read more! Always one that has bothered me this for a truly competitive market in the UK - property rating on fibre.

Looks like The Grauniad has picked up an interesting case study from Sohonet. We all know that in Korea the property rating on fibre was binned at the outset of their programme to get FTTH and FTTC across the country, but I have been endeavouring to find out what has been done in other countries about property rating on fibre, not only now with FTTH more needed, but also in the past eg the 80s.

Anyone got any details of property rating on fibre anywhere else in the world please to share?
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