Full Fibre (FTTP) - Choice of Providers

wbjimmy

Fibre optic cable is currently being laid in new underground ducting outside my home by one of the smaller network providers ( Swish Fibre).  They are already encouraging me to register for their Full Fibre ( FTTP) service once their network becomes active. My question is will I have a choice of ISP once the cable is laid or will Swish have the monopoly? As far as I know Swish owns the ducting and cable and unlike Openreach doesn’t currently share its network with other ISPs. 

matelodave

AFAIK there is no statuary obligation for any provider to allow access to their infrastructure except OpenReach/BT so whether you'll have a choice in the future will depend on what sort of business plan the supplier has got mapped out for future expansion or utilisation of their network.

However that said, it will also depend on whether Swish get enough subscribers to keep them going or whether they can get other suppliers on board before they get taken over and by whom. Laying cable is not a cheap exercise and, as its pretty universal,  it's likely that someone will take over the infrastructure in the event of Swish giving up.

It's my guess that a lot of these smaller companies will get swallowed up in the future by someone else, similar to what happened to the many and varied cable TV companies which are now all Virgin. How long that will take or how it will pan out is anyone's guess.

iniltous

Swish don’t have to offer , so don’t offer , wholesale access to other ISP’s  , so if you sign up with them you have to use Swish as your ISP, 

wbjimmy

Yes I sense this may happen. OFCOM is very keen to promote the benefits of competition in the installation of Full Fibre and how this will speed up the rollout and prevent Openreach achieving the monopoly it currently has with the present network. But as residents in some new housing developments are already finding, Openreach’s monopoly is merely being replaced by another - the ISP chosen by the housing developer to install the fibre cables to the property. So I think I will resist the temptation to convert to Full Fibre until I’m sure I will have a choice of ISPs if I’m unhappy with the service.

iniltous

Exactly how does Openreach have a monopoly ? There isn’t a single area where Openreach are the only provider and others are locked out , OR cannot enter into deals that restrict other networks, and are required to offer access on an equivalent basis to any ISP that wants to use OR
In most areas urban areas, there was already two network providers, Openreach and Virgin , Virgin don’t offer wholesale access , so consumers on VM network have to use VM as the provider/ISP , users of Openreach have access to any ISP that wants to offer services via OR , if you are not currently served by Virgin , that’s entirely upto Virgin.

If a new Alt Net becomes available, and they only offer service via their own ISP , that’s not a monopoly,  there will alternatives, maybe not yet FTTP , but it’s unlikely that in the long term Swish will be the only FTTP network you will have access to.

If someone lives in an area , where the normal ‘code’ powers available to  network providers don't exist ( because the property or area is entirely privately owned including the footpaths and roads ) and the landowner chooses to restrict access to a provider they have a financial relationship with , that’s just the way it is, in the case of housing estates, where the developer doesn’t want the costs of maintaining footpaths and roads, eventually they are adopted by the local authority, and network providers then have code powers.
 Once the area is adopted by the local authority, would another network provider bother  to build in that area , given that there would be no physical infrastructure sharing , so new excavation for duct , jointboxes etc would be needed , so it probably means that these area remain tied to the developers choice of ISP.
The Government could , in area like this,  insist on that provider having to open its physical infrastructure to others , but they only use this ‘power’ to  with Openreach 

wbjimmy

Very helpful and I take the point about Openreach not being a monopoly because they are obliged to give ISPs access to their infrastructure. But it’s still their infrastructure and only they can maintain it ( for which they charge the ISPs). That said I wasn’t intentionally “having a go” at Openreach - indeed there may be an argument that OFCOM has over regulated against them in the present rollout of FTTP. Nevertheless that’s probably a discussion  for another thread!
Having seen what’s happened to the energy sector (and earlier with Cable TV) I agree that the most likely scenario is that many of the current  Altnets will not be able to survive long term without either opening up their networks to other ISPs or merging their business with the big boys. In the meantime, as my kids have left home and I’m getting fast enough speed with my FTTC service, I’ll probably wait until the market matures before committing to Full Fibre - unless of course my kids return or they fully switch off my copper network  in the meantime.