Fibre Broadband Update – April 2017

For those that attended the December meeting, you will have heard we mentioned that a letter had gone out to Warwickshire County Council with our survey results showing a demand for fibre and the missing houses not listed on their address list (despite most of Phase 9 being built when they performed the analysis). The Council have acknowledged the letter, but as yet have had no formal response as of this newsletter. However a paper was issued in late January saying that the Invitation to Tender for Contract 3 was issued in February 2017. The award of the Contracts will then be made in June 2017, which means the anticipated roll-out will likely commence in October 2017 for 2 years. We do not know the actual roll out plan and probably will not know this until later this year. Let’s hope we are at the beginning not the end! More detailed information can be found here (32 pages worth).

You will also be aware from previous newsletters that Virgin Media are also cabling up the local areas (notably Mount Nod and Tanyard Farm. Given that Virgin Media have set a target of the end of 2017, it is highly likely that Virgin Media will beat any other fibre supplier to our estate. However please note that Cllr Bally Singh (Whoberley Ward) had this response from Virgin Media on 30th January (after the last newsletter):

I wanted to advise due to the geography of the build CV5 7 and CV4 are based at the end of the build and as we have started at the other end of the build it will take some time to reach this area.

I am afraid this would mean the estimated completion date has now moved to September and maybe even October. I apologise this might not be the information you wanted but I can assure you we are working our best to ensure no further delays happen.

Simply going to Roadworks.org will show you the current status today, next 2 weeks, next 3 months time and next 12 months time. As of this newsletter, it would now appear that between 23 March – 21 April, that Virgin Media are working their way up Banner Lane. You will no doubt have seen the road works down the bottom of Banner Lane and Tile Hill Lane/Tanners Lane cross roads and down Station Avenue.

Once we hear more information, we will let you know, but it is looking likely that Virgin Media will provide fibre services before any other provider.