IX Wireless facing further complaints about poles they have installed

IX Wireless are facing complaints again about masts being installed without notification. A resident of Broadlea Road in Burnage, Manchester was shocked to find a metal pole was constructed in front of her house and when she called to complain about it, the IX Wireless staff became abusive, telling her “to get used to it” after initially claiming to be unaware of the new mast they had installed. 

IX Wireless are no stranger to complaints about the infrastructure they are installing after Bolton Council announced they were taking enforcement action against the company after infrastructure was installed without the necessary consents. 

“They’ve been really weird and abusive on the phone, I’ve asked for a copy of the phone call because they were so abusive, but they’re refusing. I’m due to buy the property and I want to put a driveway on and remove a bush but where the mast is blocks the access. I just went out one day for three hours and when I came back it was up, I didn’t get a letter about it going up, no one here did.”

Ms Partington, Broadlea Road resident

A manager has since apologized and they have agreed to move the mast in 3 to 4 weeks. A statement from IX Wireless said:

“We acknowledge that there will be some minor disruption from installing new infrastructure and we aim to keep this to a minimum. The company is keen to work with local residents and welcome any input which can help to improve our service.

The company investigated the claims and calls from Ms Partington to our customer support team. We have held further discussions with Ms Partington and following this we can confirm that we have put plans in place to move the post to a new location.

We will continue our follow up directly with Ms. Partington to confirm her satisfaction of the planned resolution when completed.

Many people have welcomed investment in the roll-out of digital infrastructure, and where necessary we are happy to speak to residents who may feel a structure is causing an obstruction and this is a normal part of our process when the pre-notifications are sent.”

Whilst people do indeed welcome new digital infrastructure deployments, this is generally the case in areas where there is poor broadband availability or slow speeds. This is not the case for the area where IX Wireless is building. It already has at least three gigabit network options, including the availability of Openreach FTTP, the Virgin Media cable network and BRSK FTTP. A fourth provider overbuilding an area is not likely to see strong support when there is no engagement with the community about projects they are undertaking. Indeed, IX Wireless seem largely obtuse about their rollout plans with nothing listed at all on their website about plans for this area of the North West – seemingly the opposite of ‘community engagement.’