Virgin media competition blocker

Chalky131313

Hi, we’ve been tied to Virgin for the last 6 years since moving into a new build estate. They supplied the fibre broadband and tv built into the area.
However the tv service is a bit rubbish with dodgy signal etc and we can’t move to anyone else, as OpenReach aren’t allowed to run their cables onto the estate. There’s only 75 or so houses, so there’s zero competition to Virgin.
Would anyone know if this breaks business competition rules as they have a complete monopoly on all of us.
Thanks  

MattMattMattUK

Chalky131313 said:

Hi, we’ve been tied to Virgin for the last 6 years since moving into a new build estate. They supplied the fibre broadband and tv built into the area.
However the tv service is a bit rubbish with dodgy signal etc and we can’t move to anyone else, as OpenReach aren’t allowed to run their cables onto the estate. There’s only 75 or so houses, so there’s zero competition to Virgin.
Would anyone know if this breaks business competition rules as they have a complete monopoly on all of us.
Thanks  

It does not, there are many estates around the UK in a similar situation with regard to broadband, although it does seem to be less common now. Often the limit for these deals seems to be ten years, though after that it can take a few more for OpenReach to install and only then if there is enough demand.

For TV you have a choice of Virgin, Sky, Freeview, streaming etc. If there is no fibre to the estate and no connection other than the Virgin for fixed line broadband you would have the option of 4/5G depending on depending on speeds in your area, or Starlink.

iniltous

Chances are the developer had a sweetheart arrangement with Virgin, hence the lack of Openreach , basically they didn’t allow OR onto the site , back then it was their private property, in the majority of cases the local authority adopts the roads and footpaths ( this can be a few years after the site is finished ) and they becomes responsible for the upkeep, at this point the developer no longer has a veto on any utilities that may want to use their rights and obligations under the NRSWA to install services, but , obviously doing this retrospectively , potentially years after people have taken the incumbents service, is much more difficult and expensive, plus given that they would be facing an area where VM have a 100% take up of those customers that are served by ‘landlines’ , it’s not going to be an attractive proposition, as the costs would be substantial with no guarantee that many will switch.
Unfortunately , this doesn’t break any competition rules , so the authorities won’t be interested 

Chalky131313

Thanks for the answers, clears that up for us. Appreciate it 

fiish

In developments where the council never adopts the roads/footpaths, this might never happen and the development might be tied to one set of infrastructure for a long, long time.

dj101

As VM are often the only fibre to house supplier in a district they also effectively lock users in as well as there is no one to change to with a commensurate offering - this really irks me as my experience with VM has been very poor but the only other options are fibre to the cabinet and then a dodgy landline connection (which we had prior to VM and which BT refused to upgrade/renew even though it was very very very old and the insulation of the phone wires was cracked and letting in water) I think any new offering in a VM area would probably clean up all the existing VM contracts just because VM is so bad.