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OFNL for new estates why so expensive
OK so is this another monopoly scam for the big developers? I’m on a relatively new build housing development and I HAVE TO use One Fibre Network ONFL for broadband and Sky TV. Normal offers from all of the big name providers that are much cheaper are not available to me and the so called better deals through ONFL are quite a bit more expensive.
Who is this a good deal for and how is it allowed as surely it’s a monopoly position. For example Sky full fibre in my area is £22pm but through OFNL it’s £31pm (with Sky) is the cheapest available . Other providers in the ‘normal’ area are even cheaper. Yes there are other choices and other providers but no mainstream names and they are all way more. Where is all the extra cost going!
I can’t see anyone questioning this or wanting doing anything about it so why is this? There must be tens of thousands of households being forced to pay these uncompetitive fees. Is this one for Martin to question and delve into?,
Comments
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They'll have done a deal with the developers for a period (whatever that may be) and contributed to the cost of the infrastructure, it all needs to be paid for. Mobile or even satellite BB are your other options.
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What do you get for your £31pm by the way?
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It’s not a deal for a period of time but forever , it’s the developer chosing to have no other provider network available and effectively locking out everyone else but the network they are in cahoots with , basically forcing the home owners to use that network ( or mobile ) , and as there is no compulsory physical infrastructure access like Openreach are obliged to offer , no other network provider will bother after the roads and footpaths are adopted by the local council that’s when other networks are allowed to excavate for their own ducts / jointboxes etc., but the economics will never make sense , Openreach won’t take a punt , the build costs they would have just enable the Alt Nets (using PIA ) to effectively to get a free ride , why spend money for the benefit of their competitors (incredibly Openreach don’t get an exclusivity period on their own investment ) and the Alt Nets won’t commit to the expense when they can leech onto existing Openreach infrastructure somewhere else in the country and get more coverage for very little expenditure.
The only way these mini monopolies will be affected is if they are required by Ofcom in the same way Openreach are , to open up their ducts etc to competitors, or to have genuine regulated wholesale prices , but they won’t do that voluntarily and Ofcom won’t do anything about this , it’s not a new situation either , areas with only the developers choice of network like OFNL (there are others that do the same as them ) have been around for decades.
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Presumably there is a chance that because the developer cut a deal with just one provider, the financial package they agreed meant that either the properties were a little cheaper or the developer made a larger profit.
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For a developer, that could use Openreach (for example ) but chose not to and pick an ( in comparison) tiny niche provider with few if any recognisable ISP’s on board they clearly must have some incentive made by the network to make that decision, however with some new build sites that have closed network (Persimmon Homes for example) they actually are the ‘owner’ of the fibre network as well as the developer….its very unlikely that this makes any difference at all to the price the developer sets for the properties
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