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[Bowdon]

This is a kind of continuation of my last thread: http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,15511.0.html

So now I'm wondering how are companies like Gigaclear and Hyperoptic able to build their own FTTP/H networks so fast?

Where does the money come from?

How much is it costing these companies?

Are they using any of the existing OR fibre networks and connecting to that network somehow, or are they using completely independant networks?

If it is affordable and profitable for these companies to do this, why isn't OR or BT doing something similar. I can imagine the main thing holding a greater expansion of Gigaclear / Hyperoptic's network is money. BT / OR are a far bigger company than either of those 2 combined.

I would imagine that the 'risk' is greater for those companies than it is for BT. Do these companies get grants off the government?

I guess I could also include Virgin media in this question too, though not with FTTP/H (?). But the fact they are able to build their own network too and expand it.

[tommy45]

I would imagine that they will be renting some of it from BT  So would they would have exclusive use of it there may be other companies with fibre in the ground that they also rent from , If it's anything like BE there  this is what they will be doing  without a doubt

[kitz]

As mentioned by tommy a lot of the backhaul may be leased from another company.   There are several companies which they can approach who specialise in this sort of thing - BT will be just one.   Even B4RN uses a leased backhaul to Manchester.  I cant recall off the top of my head who with, but I know they also peer with JANET for some of their traffic.

When it comes to the local area then that is down to geographic and how easy it is for them to install fibre to the premises.   Obviously cities and large towns are more profitable because of the amount of possible consumers in one area and how soon they can recoup their costs.   Not all has been plain sailing.   Look what happened in Sheffield with DR and the ongoing saga in Jersey which was supposed to have been the bees knees and half funded by the Jersey government. 

[c6em]

As regards Gigaclear
They often use C&W backhaul (subsidiary of vodafone)
They do not use BT - ever under any circumstances.....ever

They make it cheap to install by:
1. Making the final fibre drop from the front boundary box to the house all paid for and arranged by the customer so it's not their problem/cost/aggro whatever. Long drive to your house - your problem: it's going to cost yea.
2. Only bury the cable some 12 inches below the verge surface. so above all others services like water so they don't have to worry about conflicts as to where are the water pipes are for example...and they can use microtrenching: they work fast, I've seen them and they really do work along a road fast.
3. Choose places/villages with a high level of soft green verge to dig in - so MUCH cheaper than tarmac.
4. Most importantly get the interested locals to organise everything - suggest easy cable routes, sort out land owners and beat the difficult one to a pulp, find a suitable position for the cab'....help with wayleaves, do the marketing, distribute the leaflets, drum up the signups to get to the trigger level,  help out at open days. It's a LOT of work for the local committee of interested locals which Gigaclear sort of help to set up  - and I really do mean a lot of work.  I would almost say the level of work is almost not compatible with being in full time employment - so semi-retired types who can have meetings with project mangement on site mid day at a day's notice....and they need to be the sort of people who know a lot of the residents in the village.
5. Sub-contract everything. So the cables are laid by ground working company, fibres connected up in the various amalgamation pits by a fibre specialist company.  you could say the marketing is subcontracted to the local committee!

The money comes from private investors. Up to now there has been no grants and no public money involved in their projects.
Typical overall costs for an entire project seem to be around the £1000 mark per house so for a typical large village of 1000 houses that a £1m investment.
If there is a group of say 4 houses some distance away from the main village and not on a cable route Gigaclear won't go to them unless they are prepared to "contribute" to Gigaclear's costs. So forget about any universality of access if you are in an outlying position - they are a commercial firm looking for 'low hanging fruit' in the marketing jargon - don't pay don't get. So compact upmarket villages is their prime hunting ground.  Really rural areas with one house per mile is a disaster area they would not touch.
They need village/area sizes of at least 400 houses to make a viable project.
Sadly those villages of just 100 in the middle of nowhere with no easy access to backhaul are going to be out of luck.

[phi2008]

This also explains it -

[youtube]rvjIhu7JiXk[/youtube]

Best watched on YouTube where it is properly scaled.