Skip to main content

Outside Plant and Broadband Public Policy

Here's some interesting insights from the Digital Britain interim report. The civil engineering work required to deploy next-generation access (NGA) infrastructure is a significant part of the business case for a major broadband deployment project, and some estimates put it as high as 80 percent of the overall cost.

Although it is not the only remedy, providing access to existing ducts, and therefore reducing the cost of deploying fiber for Communication Providers (CPs), is one solution that may lower the barriers to entry for CPs, and therefore support meaningful service provider competition.

Ofcom commissioned Analysys Mason to survey a number of UK cities and towns to assess the level of occupancy of the telecoms duct infrastructure, and to investigate the practical issues that CPs may face if deploying new fiber cables -- using the incumbent service provider's existing infrastructure.

The main objective of the survey was to make an indicative assessment of the duct infrastructure to help Ofcom determine whether or not duct access was a viable option in the UK for CPs to deploy new fiber cables in access and backhaul networks.

The key conclusions of their study are:

- Just over half of the duct ends surveyed have at least 42 percent of unoccupied space, 22 percent of surveyed duct-ends were full, and 26 percent of surveyed duct-ends were empty.

- Unoccupied space in the duct infrastructure network is not evenly distributed across the different sections of the network, and is more likely to be congested in the access part of the network than in the backhaul network.

- Unoccupied space in the duct infrastructure network is not evenly distributed across the different towns/cities, and cities where recent civil engineering work was carried out are more likely to have more available space.

- Unoccupied duct-end space will not directly translate into usable duct space for a CP willing to use the ducts, for a number of related reasons -- explained in the report.

Popular posts from this blog

Global Information Security Trends for 2025

The global Information Security landscape is poised for significant growth, driven by escalating online cyber threats and the increasing complexity of digital business ecosystems.  According to the latest market study by Gartner, global spending on information security is expected to grow by 15.1 percent in 2025, reaching a total of $212 billion. This investment highlights the importance of cybersecurity and underscores the need for new measures to protect sensitive data and infrastructure from cyber threats. Information Security Market Development Several key trends illustrate the scale and scope of the spending: This growth reflects the increasing prioritization of cybersecurity across industries as organizations seek to safeguard their digital business assets and maintain trust with customers. Spending on Security Services is forecast to rise by 15.6 percent in 2025, reaching $86.07 billion globally. This growth is driven by the ongoing shortage of cybersecurity talent and the need