THE FIRMS behind Reading’s new ultrafast broadband network were given a grilling over miscommunication, homes blocked in, and debris left after the workforce moved on.
Bosses from CityFibre and new entrant Grain Connect were summoned to a meeting of Reading Borough Council’s Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport Committee on Thursday, July 7, following residents complaints about significant disruption they had faced.
When completed, the £58 million project will give homes and businesses across the Ding broadband connection speeds of 1 gigabit – some of the fastest in the country. However, the route to the internet superhighway has been full of go slows.
Work started in January 2021, and has led to traffic congestion and delays across various phases including along Oxford Road last year, and Caversham in March this year. Last month, there were delays following a partial closure of Reading Bridge to allow new fibre optic cabling to be installed.
The committee welcomed Roy Griffin, regional delivery director for City Fibre with responsibility for the build and overall programme within Reading, and Stacey King, City Fibre’spaul r, as well as the firm’s Paul Wilson, head of area build.
For Grain Connect, Peter Murphy, head of national FTTP operations, attended.
Both companies were allowed to give an initial presentation.
CityFibre explained it was an overall investment of £4 billion, and would allow people to bridge a digital divide, and its services avoided buffering so users had a smoother internet connection.
Ms King said: “We all know things are not getting cheaper, this is a way of reducing costs by serving communities in a different way (to existing telecoms firm)… It’s really important to make sure people can get the service they want at the price point they want.”
So far, five companies were using CityFibre’s infrastructure to sell broadband to Reading homes, including ZenInternet, TalkTalk and Vodafone. These packages were often cheaper that existing companies including BT and Virgin.
“We are building a new digital infrastructure, hopefully for decades to come – it’s a once in a generation upgrade,” Ms King explained. “Essentially, we are deploying brand-new networks, building one that can scale for the future. We want to get it right first time.”
Part of this meant renting space from Openreach, including poles and ducts, making it less disruptive that a year zero approach.
“We’re delivering to over 100,000 places across Reading,” Ms King said. “We don’t exclude properties when we come to a city, we go to everywhere we can possibly go.”
And Mr Murphy said that Grain Connect was not looking to serve the whole of Reading, but initially 6,000 homes in six stages. As Reading Today previously revealed, these are around the Newtown area.
He said his firm was the cheapest in the country, and kept its install sites “nice and small, nice and tidy”.
“We care about not upsetting communities – they are our target audience,” he explained.
Cllr Andrew Hornsby-Smith wanted to know how the firms minimised overruns on their work.
Mr Wilson, responding on behalf of CityFibre, said works were governed by the council’s highway department under a permit, with times dictated by the scale of the works and their complexity. Compliance with these approvals was at 90%.
“Occasionally, we start work and find it takes slightly longer than we anticipate,” he said. “We have a very good record of meeting what we set out to do.”
Mr Murphy said that it was easier for Grain Connect as they tackle smaller scale projects at any one time, and it was “very rare” they had overruns.
CityFibre, Mr Wilson said, was “as proactive as possible” when it came to notifying residents of upcoming works, including letter drops, but acknowledged that these “don’t always get read, unfortunately”.
The firm was looking to improve its signage to help residents.
Grain Connect said that it knocked on every single door ahead of the service installation, had information boards with QR codes placed on lampposts and, during works, courtesy boards with a contact number.
“It’s critical we don’t upset residents, it’s important they are happy with us – we have to sell our products to them,” Mr Murphy said.
Mr Griffith said CityFibre worked on 400 homes at a time and from completion to switch on, the process took about four weeks, something he knew from his own experience.
Problems in Caversham, where ‘spoil’ – left over works, such as wiring and pipes – had not been cleared up, while traffic lights had remained in place while contractors Instalcom had finished the works, adding to the gridlock.
Mr Wilson said that he couldn’t talk about specific incidents, but: “An operation of this scale, logistically, you’ll make a mistake. We are very responsive when those mistakes happen.
“People feel passionately about where they live, and the work is disruptive. Where there is an issue, we will put it right.”
Ms King said the firm tried to work collaboratively with the council to ensure they weren’t digging up roads that had just been resurfaced.
There was an acknowledgement that things had improved but had now started to slip again.
Cllr Liz Terry raised two cases. One where a resident had been concerned that a junction box was going to be installed by a wall which would give thieves easy access to their garden. She sat on a chair in the road to stop Instalcom from installing the box, and an alternative site was found.
The second case saw a mound of earth left on the driveway of an anxious 90-year-old man.
“It took quite ab it of effort to get it sorted, they weren’t happy with the way the road was left,” Cllr Terry said. “Finally – eventually – it was cleared to an acceptable standard.”
She added that it was not a teething problem.
Residents in Berkeley Avenue didn’t get notices of work, while those in Brunswick Street had the street closed without communication and then no work, a situation described as “madness”.
Cllr Terry said: “You’re not just inconveniencing people, you’ve upset them. The general impression of your reputation is by association with Instalcom.”
“Please … go away and think about your customer.”
Mr Griffith promised to take the comments on board, and where workforces had not followed guidelines, they had been removed from the teams. He also said they would look at other ways to improve communications.
Cllr Paul Gittings, the chair of the committee, said he had photos of Instalcom vans parked on double yellows, causing problems, and Cllr Tony Page pointed out that Jesse Terrace residents faced another round of road closures.
“They will be well peed off at a second time,” he said, calling for a full briefing in advance of the works, something that CityFibre said they would be happy to look at.
The telecoms firms were thanked for their attendance and the meeting moved on.
