For this update Rotherhithe is used to describe the council wards of Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks.

Transcription

1 Progress Update March 2016

2 2 Purpose The aim of this update is to report on the progress that has been made to bring superfast broadband to Rotherhithe. It will look at what the major telecoms suppliers have promised to do and their progress. Southwark Council made an election promise to bring superfast broadband to Rotherhithe and have recently announced a Digital Strategy detailing the council's ambition to be a digital council and a digital borough. Due to this promise and as BT are the only telecoms infrastructure provider Southwark Council are engaging with, this report will mainly focus on BT s and Southwark Council s progress. For this update Rotherhithe is used to describe the council wards of Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks. Summary Apart from selected updates by Hyperoptic, little tangible progress has been made to bring superfast broadband to Rotherhithe residents who can only get slow ASDL broadband. The council is currently only actively engaging with BT. In September 2015 the council announced the upgrades BT was intending to carry out. This would be in two phases, with the first completed by March 2016 and the second by March Southwark Council gave recent assurances that around 4000 people would benefit from new faster connections by the end of March The single new cabinet that has been installed only provides fibre broadband to the maple Quays development, which already has fibre from an alternative provider. To date not a single person in Rotherhithe with slow ASDL-only broadband has benefitted from a new BT fibre broadband connection. By 2017 Southwark will be the worse London Borough for superfast broadband and have the highest level of inadequate broadband speeds.

3 3 The Current Situation Southwark currently has 88% coverage of superfast broadband. This is made up of 71% coverage by BT Openreach, 72% coverage by Virgin and 4% coverage by alternative providers (e.g. Hyperoptic, SeeTheLight) 1. This currently places Southwark as the third worse London borough for superfast broadband. Southwark is also second to bottom for the amount of broadband connections that are less than 10Mbps. 2 In September 2015 BT published their plans to improve superfast broadband coverage in all London Boroughs by March After these proposed improvements, Southwark will become the worse London borough for superfast broadband. The Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency ward will have around 77% coverage and the council wards of Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks will be languishing at around 40%. In comparison by 2017 the majority of other London Boroughs will have BT superfast connections in excess of 98% with 14 reaching 100% coverage. 3 Southwark Labour made a pledge to bring superfast broadband to Rotherhithe during the 2014 council election campaign. They have restated this as a promise at several council and cabinet meetings since retaining control of the council. Despite repeated requests, Southwark Council has not been able to confirm whether they have a plan or strategy beyond meeting with BT. They have not committed any funding towards achieving their promise. Southwark s Digital Strategy Southwark s Digital Strategy details Southwark Council's ambitions as a digital council and as a digital borough. 4 The focus of the strategy is on how the council will operate but there are clear implications on the provision of appropriate digital infrastructure to ensure that no residents are not(sic) left behind and unable to access the services and support they need. 5 In Southwark 16% of social tenants do not have home internet access compared to 3% of homeowners. This is 10% higher than the rest of the UK. 6 One of the initial areas of focus to be achieved by the summer of 2016 is to Attract digital business to Southwark through lobbying for high speed broadband throughout the whole borough, explore options to deliver high speed Wi-Fi across the borough and marketing Southwark as the best place to set up for digital businesses. 7 This aspiration is commendable but it is difficult to see how Southwark could possibly be marketed as the best place to set up for digital businesses whilst predicted to have the worst levels of broadband of any London Borough. 8 1 See Figure 1: Superfast Broadband Coverage 2 See Table 1: Superfast Broadband All Suppliers 3 See Table 2: BT Superfast Broadband 2015/ (Digital Strategy) 5 (Summary: Principle 3) 6 (Appendix 3: Equality and Health Analysis) 7 (Digital Strategy p20) 8 See Table 2: BT Superfast Broadband 2015/2017

4 4 BT / BT Openreach In January 2014, BT announced plans to invest a further 50 million into their roll-out of fibre optic based broadband to improve connectivity across more than 30 cities and benefit an additional 400,000 UK premises 9. By the summer of 2015 this has become almost entirely London-centric with BT announcing fibre expansion for all London boroughs, including Southwark 10. Known as the London Expansion Plan (LEP) BT plans to bring fibre broadband to an additional 360,000 premises in London of these new lines would be installed in Southwark. The expansion plan focus is on upgrading street telephone cabinets that weren t part of the original commercial plans and rolling out fibre-to-the-remote-node (FTTRN) cabinets that serve apartment blocks. In 2014 and 2015, during the planning stages of the LEP, BT ran a number of technology and service trials across London. These mainly focused on newer technology for providing superfast broadband to multi-dwelling units. In October 2014 BT announced one of these trials would be in Rotherhithe. In July 2015, working with Southwark Council this trial eventually started, providing superfast broadband to 16 flats in Gwent Court, Rotherhithe Street. This was a commercial installation looking at how BT worked with some of its ISP customers. Residents could choose from a range of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who use BT infrastructure (SKY, TalkTalk, PlusNet, EE and others) and could choose speeds of up to 38Mbps or 76Mbps. The cost of the services would be the same as the ISPs would charge for normal street cabinet fibre. At the end of the technical phase of the trial only 1 resident had participated. Unfortunately neither BT nor Southwark did any follow up research to find out why the participation was so low. As the price of fibre broadband is significantly higher than ASDL broadband, cost is likely to have been a significant factor. In September 2015 BT shared more specific details of the expansion proposals for Southwark. These would be a combination of new cabinets, cabinet upgrades and FTTRN installations. Andrew Campling, BT General Manager for London, stated that the installations would be in two phases with Phase 1 completed by March 2016 and Phase 2 by March Of the new connections 4000 would be in Phase 1 and in Phase 2. Phase 1 would see new connections comprising of three FTTRN installations at Courthope House, Pine House and Ritchie House, the installation of three new telephone / fibre cabinet combinations, two telephone cabinet upgrades and one fibre cabinet upgrade. Phase 1 would also include a cabinet upgrade at Bankside and a cabinet upgrade in East Dulwich. Each new fibre cabinet will only be able provide superfast broadband to a maximum of 288 customers, which is approximately 25% of those connected to the adjacent telephone cabinet. When quoting new superfast connection figures, BT use the number of lines connected to the telephone cabinet and not the actual number of superfast lines available. So while BT and Southwark quote 4000 new connections in reality only around a 1000 of these will be able to get superfast broadband. The average uptake of fibre services is around 20-25% which makes BTs installations cost effective but as broadband is so poor in Rotherhithe the demand is likely to be far higher than what BT is planning to install (BT Press Release) 11 (BT Press Release)

5 Map of Phase 1 cabinet locations and new coverage areas 5 Data source: BT Openreach Despite repeated assurances from Clr Fiona Colley (who is leading on this issue at the council) that BT were on target to complete Phase 1 by the end of March , to date only one of the Phase 1 cabinet upgrades has been installed - the additional fibre cabinet on Surrey Quays Rd, which only provides fibre to the new flats in the Maple Quays estate, which already has fibre provided by SeeTheLight. As of 31st March 2016 not a single person in Rotherhithe who can only access to slow ASDL has benefitted from a new BT fibre broadband connection (Southwark Council Cabinet Meeting, 9 February 2016) 13

6 The proposed Phase 2 cabinet locations have been identified but coverage areas are not known. Phase 2 is due to be completed by March Map of Phase 2 cabinet locations 6 Data source: BT Openreach It's difficult to see how the current Phase 2 installations will make up the further connections BT has announced. It s disappointing that BT s plans will not help those who live in the northern part on Rotherhithe who have the slowest, barely 2Mbps broadband. It s also a concern that none of the upgrades publically announced by BT in September 2015 have yet to appear on the BT Openreach website which details their current and future plans

7 7 Any new installations BT proposes will not improve the speed of the current ADSL broadband. If BT do upgrade, residents will only have the choice of purchasing the more expensive fibre broadband to get improved speeds. Unlike the majority of the population who can choose between adequate ASDL and more expensive fibre, only Rotherhithe residents who can afford the higher prices will benefit. This is concerning as the many people in Rotherhithe will be left with very poor broadband speeds and likely unable to adequately access the forthcoming online services from Southwark Council. It recent weeks it has become clear that Southwark Council are unaware that the improvements planned by BT in Southwark are part of the larger London Expansion Plan program. Southwark have repeatedly implied that the work BT has planned is in part due or wholly due to their involvement and the constructive working relationship [that] has been established with BT Openreach 15. Southwark Council s apparent ignorance of the wider context of BT s plans and coverage can only be detrimental to their dealings with BT, their promise to Rotherhithe residents and aspirations to be a digital borough. It's disappointing that Southwark Council still believes BT are making good progress. Despite assurances from BT and Southwark Council, there have been no new connections to ADSL-only properties in Rotherhithe and BT are investing the least amount per head of population in Southwark than any other London Borough (Southwark Council Cabinet Meeting, 9 February 2016) 16 See Table 2: BT Superfast Broadband 2015/2017

8 8 Virgin Media Virgin media is currently available to 72% of properties in Southwark. The coverage in Rotherhithe is significantly less at around 17%. Map of Virgin Media locations Data source: ThinkBroadband In February 2015 Virgin Media announces a 3 billion investment in UK s internet infrastructure. Rotherhithe residents were encouraged to register interest on Virgin Media s Cable My Street website. 17 The resulting feedback showed that Virgin Media s expansion plans for Rotherhithe were extremely limited with only a few properties on the edge of Virgin Media s current network would be upgraded. To date these limited upgrades have not happened. We have contacted Virgin Media a number of times but have failed to get any update on their plans. Southwark Council have not met with Virgin Media to discuss expansion in Rotherhithe. 17

9 9 Hyperoptic Hyperoptic provides superfast broadband to apartment blocks. The coverage in Rotherhithe is around 6%. Map of Hyperoptic enabled buildings Data source: ThinkBroadband. Due to the cost of the infrastructure Hyperotic uses, they only install their services to relatively large apartment blocks or joined residences. Hyperoptic are continuing to work with landlords and development managers in Rotherhithe to extent their coverage. In May 2015 they managed to install their services in South Dock Marina

10 10 4G Broadband Many of the mobile providers (EE, Three, Vodaphone) now have data only plans that can be used as an alternative to fixed-line broadband. Speed can vary hugely depending on location and all plans have usage caps (between 1 and 50GB). The downsides are that it is expensive and the ping rates (how fast you get a response after you've sent out a request) for 4G services are usually slower than fixed line or fibre broadband. We've have had mixed reports from around Rotherhithe but many are happy with the services. Relish Relish (UK Broadband) provides 4G broadband in central London. This is slightly different to mobile 4G networks as it is geared towards high capacity data-only connections of up to 50Mbps. As there is no usage caps and the price is between 15-20, it can be an attractive option. While a couple of residents in Rotherhithe have been able get access to this service from Relish s mast in Wapping, it is not available to the vast majority of Rotherhithe. Since Relish relaunched in 2014, they have repeatedly said that they are expanding and would consider coming to Rotherhithe. A tweet in February indicated they were planning to come to Rotherhithe in This was contradicted by another tweet some days later which stated they had no current plans to come to Rotherhithe. Relish have not submitted any planning applications for masts or aerials in Rotherhithe so it doesn t appear Relish will be coming anytime soon. In October 2015 it was reported that UK Broadband, the company behind Relish, logged heavy losses. 19 It difficult to ascertain what effect this will have their expansion plans. SeeTheLight SeeTheLight provides a Mbps fibre service to the Maple Quays development around Canada Water Station. This was a contract set up by Barretts Homes when the development first opened. 19

11 11 Universal Service Obligation The Universal Service Obligation (USO) was introduced in 1984 and ensures that basic fixed line telecom services, mainly from BT, are available at an affordable price to all customers across the UK. The government is currently consulting on updating the USO and it is hoped that once in place by 2020 everyone will have a legal right to request a 10 Mbps minimum speed broadband connection. While waiting a further 4 years to get even this basic broadband speed is too long, for many in Rotherhithe it will be a huge leap forward. It would also help those residents who cannot afford the more expensive solutions to get at least an improved broadband speed. Postcodes requiring help to meet proposed 10 Mbps USO Data source: ThinkBroadband

12 12 Figure 1: Superfast Broadband Coverage BT Openreach Virgin Media Grey areas indicate a mismatch in data points between the census data used for the mapping and the data collected by ThinkBroadband. Data is still collected for these areas and reflected in the figures in Tables 1 and 2. All Providers Combined Graphics and data: ThinkBroadband

13 Table 1: Superfast Broadband All Suppliers Percentage of superfast access across London Boroughs and connection speeds under 10 Mbps. 24 Mbps and over is UK Governments classification of superfast broadband. 30 Mbps and over is Ofcom and EU classification of superfast broadband. 13 London Borough Fibre all providers* Over 24 Mbps* Over 30 Mbps* BT Openreach >30 Mbps VirginMedia >30 Mbps Under 10 Mbps Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden City of Westminster Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth Data source: ThinkBroadband * BT Openreach, Virgin Media and alternative suppliers.

14 Table 2: BT Superfast Broadband 2015/2017 Percentage of BT Openreach superfast access (>30Mbps) across London Boroughs. Brackets show relative position between boroughs. 14 Authority Name March 2015 March 2017 Barking and Dagenham 97.6 (2) 100 (1) Barnet 92.5 (17) 97.7 (22) Bexley 93.7 (15) 100 (1) Brent 92.8 (16) 99 (1) Bromley 91 (20) 98.1 (20) Camden 84 (28) 100 (1) City of Westminster 65.3 (32) 100 (1) Croydon 90.6 (21) 97.1 (24) Ealing 94.1 (13) 97.4 (23) Enfield 96.4 (3) 98.7 (17) Greenwich 91.1 (19) 100 (1) Hackney 84.6 (27) 97 (25) Hammersmith and Fulham 88.5 (24) 96.8 (26) Haringey 95.5 (5) 100 (1) Harrow 96.4 (4) 100 (1) Havering 95.5 (6) 96.5 (27) Hillingdon 94.2 (12) 98.1 (19) Hounslow 95 (9) 100 (1) Islington 72.3 (29) 90.2 (31) Kensington and Chelsea 89.4 (22) 100 (1) Kingston upon Thames 95.2 (7) 98.2 (18) Lambeth 86.3 (26) 95.8 (28) Lewisham 87.5 (25) 100 (1) Merton 94.1 (14) 100 (1) Newham 91.8 (18) 95.4 (29) Redbridge 95 (10) 100 (1) Richmond upon Thames 94.4 (11) 100 (1) Southwark 70.8 (30) 86.2 (32) Sutton 95.1 (8) 100 (1) Tower Hamlets 65.5 (31) 87.9 (31) Waltham Forest 97.8 (1) 100 (1) Wandsworth 89 (23) 98.1 (21) Data source: ThinkBroadband & BT

15 15 Acknowledgments We would like to thank Think Broadband who have been extremely helpful and supplied much of the data for this report. ThinkBroadband.com To help improve the accuracy of the data please visit their website and carry out a speed test: ThinkBroadband is an independent site, well-respected in the industry. Andrew Campling, BT General Manager for London

16 BroadbandSE16 We ve changed our website from energise16.co.uk to broadbandse16.co.uk