More information emerges on Erbistock £500,000 broadband
Wednesday 08 September 2010 21:23:52 by Andrew Ferguson

We recently reported that BT had quoted over £0.5m to bring VDSL2 to Erbistock whilst rival Rutland Telecom was offering to do the job for tenth of the cost. A BT quote published on eWeek Europe suggests that the £500,000 was the highest figure from a number of options.

"My understanding is that the £500,000 plus figure was provided as one of a number of options, and it was the most expensive option as it meant building an entirely new copper network in area, which would have meant major civil engineering works [..] That figure was the initial figure given, but there were also significantly cheaper options. We are still exploring alternative solutions for the area [..] With Rutland, they are not obliged to wholesale their service like BT is. So they can therefore guarantee a return on their investment, because they effectively create a local monopoly. But for us it is more of a challenge, as we can’t guarantee our retail arm will benefit from the investment."

BT spokesman (quote from eWeek)

So it seems the original figure was for a complete rebuild of the copper network, which probably meant re-locating telegraph poles, new ducting and probably thicker copper cable that is now standard. Quotes for the other options, which we presume included a FTTC style arrangement as Rutland Telecom are planning are not available, so a like-for-like comparison is difficult.