Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

Not the one I was thinking of, but I wouldn't blink if it were built out to, especially given there are some assets there that can be reused.

Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

Now it's been announced the area I had in mind was Westminster.

Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

Westminster is interesting because its home to the politicians, wealthy and the powerful so lots of potential income for VM there. But it also has some of the worst slums in the country too.

Central London is very much going through a transition at the moment. It's always been home to the uber rich while having extreme poverty too. Gradually those in social housing are "getting moved on" and it will just become a place for the elite only. Perhaps this is why VM are getting involved now.

Plus, didn't BT used to own the ducting in and around Westminster which is why there never was a cable service there? How this been resolved, ie who owns the ducts?

The article says that VM are expanding into areas such as Croydon and Hammersmith, but I thought they were already there, so I'm assuming its just infilling areas that have been missed??

Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

BT still own the ducting. VM will build from scratch.

The other areas will indeed be infill.

Barnet sounds like it's going to be a hybrid. Some treated as 'new build' and built as FTTP, other bits in-fill. Barnet has relatively low cable coverage, barely 43%, so there's a lot of building to do there.

Somewhere like Croydon is definitely infill; Croydon, the borough, is 87% cabled right now.

Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

i've always been a bit fuzzy on Westminster.

ntl bought the Westminster and Milton Keynes franchises from BT. So I would have thought the duct would have been part of that?

but maybe not.

Actually now I seem to vaguely recall some kind of leasing arrangement that ntl had to lease the BT equipment so maybe that extended to the duct?

Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

ntl had/have a 99 year lease on the franchises, Pierre. They never actually bought them.

http://m.broadcastnow.co.uk/1217568.article

Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

Everything above ground was NTL's responsibility and below was BT's. There ductwork and network cables

Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

:D

Re: 30 more areas selected for cabling by VM
 

old thread but the plug was finally pulled from Milton Keynes (250k+ homes) not long after the last post on here. VM being unwilling to keep paying £3m annual lease payment while being blocked to upgrading system to digital.

I wonder if MK could yet be a new build after all?