back to article BT wins £33m Surrey council superfast broadband deal

BT has won more government funds to unfurl faster fibre-optic broadband cabling - this time in Surrey, after it beat two other rivals to the £33m contract. Small suppliers Briskona Ltd and ETDE Ltd were the other two firms to bid for the Surrey funds. Fujitsu, however, did not partake in that particular procurement process. …

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  1. Robin
    Thumb Up

    Octupus

    Hooray, you didn't say "inked" in relation to the deal, like all the other articles.

    I have nothing relevant to say, by the way.

  2. HMB

    I'm a good person because...

    I never murder anyone close to 100% of the time.

  3. ElNumbre
    Paris Hilton

    Takeup Proportions

    Whilst I alway welcome greater penetration (of Faster Broadband Services), every time I see an announcement like this, it seems to be in regions or cities of percieved higher wealth.

    As far as I can see, these are not projects for the greater good as our dear leaders may have us believe, but for the greater profits (or the greater chance at profits) that a wealthier customer base may bring. I wonder if, now we have the equivalent of Waitrose and Aldi broadband if anyone will setup a co-op broadband for the benefit of all of its members.

    1. LinkOfHyrule
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Takeup Proportions

      Waitrose is really popular here in Surrey - I want Waitrose organic locally produced fibre! Shove it directly into my premises please!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Takeup Proportions

      Several people bang on about it being an affluent area.

      I would argue that BT's second publicly-funded fibre rollout, across Cornwall, is not at all serving a primarily affluent area. It's the poorest county in the country. They seem to be getting on with it, too - the scheme is just over a year old and anywhere I go I see fibre cabinets popping up.

      I can't imagine Northern Ireland topping the charts either (where the first publicly-funded fibre rollout is).

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I bet there are more BT shareholders in Surrey than anywhere else.

    1. LinkOfHyrule
      Thumb Up

      I believe I am right in saying that Surrey is the most populous county in Great Britain so it could actually be true that there are more BT shareholders here than anywhere else (excluding London and other large cities maybe)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Having been to most of it I feel fairly confident in suggesting that the proportion of wealth per head there is probably higher than any other county's, though there is the occasional down-at-heels town. I guess the 'Stockbroker Belt' is along the North Downs - very pretty, 'leafy Surrey'. Used to ride my motorbike along the A25 at the drop of a hat from the mid-80s to about the mid-90s! Or ride to Croydon for spares, up the A3, off at Chessington and on through Sutton. Or come back via Epsom and through to Surrey Heath. Even Chertsey is nice! I don't believe you can smell 'Chertsey Shit Farm' from there, but I'm surprised there hasn't been a campaign to at least rename it!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    100% coverage or 100% of houses?

    I live in the town center appartment block and cant get Infinity.

    We've had "Fiber" for 2 years now but apparently not my building for some reason.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "I live in the town center appartment block and cant get Infinity."

      Meh, it seems I can get both Infinity and Virgin's own fiber.. but wouldn't really want either. My underwhelming ADSL 2+ is fine for now, until I can get more from a less annoying ISP:

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "I live in the town center appartment block and cant get Infinity."

        That's the problem, the telco infrastructure should be a public resource like the national grid. Then you just pick your operator.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "I live in the town center appartment block and cant get Infinity."

        "until I can get more from a less annoying ISP:"

        All of the top-end ISPs offer fibre - Andrews and Arnold, any of the Entanet resellers, Claranet, and a load more I've failed to list.

        You don't have to go with BT to get fibre broadband via BT's network.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hah, I am a resident of Surrey (one of the cheap, scummy crime-riddled bits that are part of Greater London), and already get a ton of dead tree spam for "BT Infinity", so it seems there is some sort of fiber gwan already. However, the chances of me ever wanting BT as an ISP are.. slim, to say the least. I have seen no sign that they are selling it wholesale to other ISPs on a regular basis.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I assume you do know that people other than BT Broadband can provide a less annoying service over the same circuits? They even do FTTC services.

    2. Optymystic

      Reselling

      The view expressed to me by a phone Coop representative is that BT is using the service as a loss leader. It has form on this regard. This means that at the price it is wholesaling the service to resellers, they cannot make a profit, which is why they are not offering the service.

    3. Lloyd
      Thumb Up

      Sutton or Croydon?

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "I have seen no sign that they are selling it wholesale to other ISPs on a regular basis."

      Er, http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/at-home/buy-it-now.aspx and http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/for-business/buy-it-now.aspx

      Shows BT + some of the big residential ISPs + several of the top-end quality ISPs are reselling fibre.

      (I have Claranet FTTC so it's hardly fiction)

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Return on investment

    I live in a lovely little village just outside Durham. Fibre has been available to areas further away to the exchange than me for a while now. Just last week I finally caved in and called BT to ask when I would be getting it. The lovely lady I spoke to said that there weren't enough people in my village to make it financially viable and because of that she said we shouldn't expect anything for at least 6 months.

    Terrible news, but fair play for being so honest.

    So much for me thinking I lived in an affluent area :-)

  8. Optymystic

    State aid

    Not only is Surrey famously rich, which provides a more lucrative market for BB services, it is the most densely populated shire county in the land. BT is using public funds to cherry pick lucrative opportunities. It doesn't need state funds to invest in lucrative areas where the distances between population centres are low. It may justify a subsidy to go into places which are poor and sparsely populated like parts of Yorkshire and central Wales.

    Yet again BT is using its monopoly (across most of the country) to arm-twist the government into financing its investment. Remember you old gits, the rationale for privatisation was that without it, the investment was unaffordable. Yet consistently BT takes a profit then returns to the state every time the publically financed infrastructure requires an improvement. As Jim Royle would have said, "Investment, my arse!"

  9. Stephen 12
    WTF?

    No Fibre in the towns!

    I live in a new development near Horley (built int he last 4 years) and it was missed off the fibre upgrade. The local cabinet has not been connected. I cannot get BT to look at it and my local Surrey MP isn;t interested in helping. I hope these funds help cable areas BT forget!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No Fibre in the towns!

      Here in Lancashire BT were merrily rolling out FTTC until the council announced the opening of the BDUK bid. Suddenly all the BT vans disappeared. Since winning the bid they've not come back.

      The comedy is that BT were halfway down our road when the bid was announced, so there are a few empty fibre cabinets that nothing is happening to.

      Even better, all the local exchanges are listed as 'Accepting Orders' (so as far as the stats go, everyone in the area has been upgraded), but BT aren't actually putting the cabinets and the cabling out from the exchanges anymore. Goodness only knows why that makes any sense.

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