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[Bowdon]

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/11/vodafone-shelve-possible-openreach-uk-fibre-deal-moot-comcast.html

The CEO of Vodafone Group, Nick Read, has told a meeting of investors that, at the wholesale fibre broadband ISP level, they’re “not engaging” with Openreach (BT) any more “in terms of any further opportunity,” which puts pay to earlier predictions of a new co-funded FTTP build. But they would talk to Comcast (Sky).

The context for all this stems from an earlier report in 2017, which claimed that Vodafone was in “early but serious” discussions with BT about the possibility of a co-investment deal. A deal like that could have seen the two arch rivals working together in order to expand the coverage of 1Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premise (FTTP/H) broadband technology across urban parts of the United Kingdom.

However the prospect for such a deal suffered what seemed to be a knock-out blow after Vodafone announced its support as an ISP partner for Cityfibre’s £500m plan to build a 1Gbps FTTH network to cover a “minimum” of 1 million UK homes by the end of 2021. This has recently been boosted by a £2.5bn investment that will push the roll-out to 5 million premises across 37 cities and towns by the end of 2024.

At the time Vodafone didn’t officially say whether this meant that an alternative arrangement with Openreach was now off the table (although logically it did) and instead kept their options open. Yesterday the operator was challenged on this by another analyst, who subtly queried the prospect of Vodafone working with other builders of fibre optic networks in the UK.

    Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone Group, said:

    “So what I would say is just from a wholesale perspective. CityFibre is gearing up, 10 cities, good progress. We are happy with the engagement we have with them. We have signed with BT the sort of – what would you call it – contingent model or whatever, which doesn’t compromise the execution that we’ve got with CityFibre or our commitment with CityFibre. So we felt we could do the same.

    In the end, if we wanted to pull away from the BT deal, we’d just lose the discount. So it’s not strategically impairing us, if you like. And we’re always open to other players that want to consider other models. So, for instance, if a Comcast guy suddenly said, okay, we want to consider.

    The one that’s been pretty quiet at the moment, I would say, is Openreach. We’re not engaging with them at the moment in terms of any further opportunity.”

[kitz]

But they would talk to Comcast (Sky)

I thought Sky said a few weeks ago that they had signed up to the Openreach volume commitment order for g.fast and fttp.


None of the big-boys really seem serious about investing in an alt network.

[Chrysalis]

I think the existing vodafone/cityfibre project is still going ahead, this is just to do with a second project they were considering with openreach.

[kitz]

I wonder if it anything to do with this.

current market regulation could still prove to be a difficult hurdle because Vodafone may well demand some degree of exclusivity over any jointly built infrastructure (e.g. initial sole use of the infrastructure and first access to the fastest speeds etc.), which would obviously upset rival ISPs in a market where Openreach is required to provide fair and equal access.

If it is, then in a way I can see their point.   They invest a shedload of £... but have to open it up to anyone that wants to piggy back and cherry pick the more profitable areas.   

Vodafone was one of the few who could have invested (and I had hopes would) in an alt network. 
Yet absolutely zero other network providers are made to open up their network in the way that Openreach is.   VM has the sole cable network but are not subject to the restrictions that Openreach are.   In this particular case I should imagine it would have given Vodafone something to think about when it comes to any joint venture with Openreach that just would not apply if investing with any other telco.
   Whilst I fully support that there must be a regulator, I sometimes think that role out of full fibre in the UK would be more advanced if it wasn't for some of OFCOMs restrictions :/   

[niemand]

Whilst I fully support that there must be a regulator, I sometimes think that role out of full fibre in the UK would be more advanced if it wasn't for some of OFCOMs restrictions :/   

Absolutely no question.