30 more areas selected for cabling by VM

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Horizon

Isle of Dogs/Canary Wharf??

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.

[Ignitionnet]

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

[Horizon]

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??

[Ignitionnet]

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.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

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

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?

[Ignitionnet]

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

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

[sollp]

Originally Posted by Pierre

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?

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

[heero_yuy]

Originally Posted by Horizon

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.

The problem with Number 10 is that it was jerry-built by a speculator, Sir George Downing. The foundations were inadequate and the land waterlogged, so successive governments have had to pour money into it. It is a now a warren of connecting buildings.

[techguy]

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?