County Broadband Contract
I have a theory, it may be totally wrong but I thought that it was a UK Government scheme (bill?) to subsidise the installation
of High Speed Internet throughout the county.
My theory relates to the two year contract renewal that they are so keen for us to sign.
Reading the July 2023 paper on Gigabit Broadband in the UK it would seem that:
"
As a result of the Government’s and Ofcom’s policy to promote a competitive market
there are many alternative network builders (altnets) building full
fibre networks in competition with Openreach. Larger altnets include City
Fibre and Hyperoptic. There are also many operators focusing only on a
particular geographical area (for example, Wight Fibre on the Isle of Wight).
One consequence of this is a phenomenon called ‘overbuild,’ where multiple
operators build separate networks in the same location. This is most likely to
happen in densely populated urban areas where there are a large number of
potential customers. An analysis of full fibre rollout plans conducted for the
Financial Times found that network operators collectively have plans to build
to around 80 million premises, far more than the total of 31 million in the UK.82
Commentators have questioned how sustainable this level of overbuild is,
both financially for the industry and environmentally.83 In a House of Lords
debate, Lord Clement-Jones asked whether the country was in a “wild west
for the laying of fibre-optic cable”. [Hansard]84
Others have noted from a digital equality perspective that build plans are not
evenly distributed across the country. The FT estimated that by 2030, around
3 million homes in wealthier and more densely populated areas could have
more than five fibre network providers to choose from, while 1 million in
poorer and rural areas could have none. Ofcom has calculated that, if existing
commercial and subsidised deployments go to plan, 96% of urban
households in the UK will have access to gigabit broadband in March 2024,
compared to 66% of rural properties.
On the other hand, some commentators have argued that overbuild is
preferable to underbuild. Ian Morris, of telecoms news website Light Reading,
notes that until recently the “dearth of infrastructure competition gave
Openreach no market incentive to invest in full-fiber networks” and that, as a
result, the UK was “stuck at the bottom of European full-fiber rankings”.
[Lightreading]85
The Government’s view remains that it “welcomes” Ofcom’s approach of
encouraging “competitive build in the majority of the UK”.[86]
"
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What's with the 2 year contract?
August 2023, CBB are trying to get customers to sign up for a fixed two year contract. If you do then they will give you
a break on the price. Otherwise they are going to increase the price 31 August 2023 if you let it roll-over.
My theory relates to this and I wonder if they, CBB, are insuring themselves against a change in government rules? The current
"cost-of-living" crisis may prompt a move so that CBB cannot hold-on to those that have no choice to go with CBB and they will
have a (legislated) choice or at least a reduction in the rate.
I am not holding my breath but I am considering not signing-up and letting it roll.
7 Sept 2023
CBB finally called me! Surprise, they offered me a third option.
