Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
London South East prides itself on its community spirit, and in order to keep the chat section problem free, we ask all members to follow these simple rules. In these rules, we refer to ourselves as "we", "us", "our". The user of the website is referred to as "you" and "your".
By posting on our share chat boards you are agreeing to the following:
The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. You agree that we have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic or board at any time should we see fit. You agree that we have the right to remove any post without notice. You agree that we have the right to suspend your account without notice.
Please note some users may not behave properly and may post content that is misleading, untrue or offensive.
It is not possible for us to fully monitor all content all of the time but where we have actually received notice of any content that is potentially misleading, untrue, offensive, unlawful, infringes third party rights or is potentially in breach of these terms and conditions, then we will review such content, decide whether to remove it from this website and act accordingly.
Premium Members are members that have a premium subscription with London South East. You can subscribe here.
London South East does not endorse such members, and posts should not be construed as advice and represent the opinions of the authors, not those of London South East Ltd, or its affiliates.
"It’s all outside existing franchise area."
You could be right, but it makes no difference, as Openreach are rapidly Fibering out VM's franchise areas too. HFC working is less upgradeable and inefficient than the PON model, so VM will have to look at that, at some point in the future, irrespective of eventual upgrades to DOCSIS 4, if VM decide to do that which they probably wont.
"Summary
The whitepaper presents six key points (and a bonus one) that cable operators
need to understand and consider when selecting the right step forward in
upgrading their networks.
Point #1 – Investment and return
Fibre deployment yields lower TCO and better return – at about the same cost as
migration to DOCSIS 3.1.
Point #2 – Sustainable investment cycle
DOCSIS requires a constant, unsustainable investment into weak future prospects.
Point #3 – Operating and maintenance costs
Maintenance and operating costs for DOCSIS are higher than for PON.
Point #4 – Services and revenue
PON enables a wider range of services than DOCSIS, and generates more revenue.
Point #5 – Migration to PON
Migration to PON is sustainable and non-disruptive.
Point #6 – Migration to DOCSIS 3.1
Migration to DOCSIS 3.1 is a continuous service disruption.
Bonus point – Customer perception
Customers’ perception and experience should never be underestimated
https://www.iskratel.com/ru/files/default/Documents/White-Papers/EN/Iskratel-GPON-vs-DOCSIS-3.1-in-Six-Simple-Points-WP.pdf
It’s all outside existing franchise area.
https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2020/02/14/virgins-project-lightning-passes-two-million/
Project lightening was announced in 2015, and hasn't exactly been lightening fast. Outside their Franchise areas they're heavily dependent on Openreach PIA, so it isn't like they're doing it all themselves. Openreach are passing around 42000 properties per week, and taking orders across multiple ISP's. Don't get me wrong, I think VM/O2 will be the number 2 provider in the UK, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they'll prosper at BT's expense.
Yup. Sure has. No timescale as when my address could be offered access to Virgin fibre. Guess that’s because there nearest bit of glass in the ground to connect me to is about 27 miles away.Can’t even get there BB or TV over my Openreach twisted pair service. Ho Hum...
So project lightening has passed you by then.
The thing is they are and will be behind the curve. BT started it’s FTTP rollout over 2 years ago, VM talked the talk, but have waited until now to attempt a national rollout. By the time they actually come out of there geography into the real world it will no doubt be at least the end of this year. I have no doubt that at the end of the day they will still cherry pick where to go. Still bring it on. Also hope they can find the contractors and equipment needed for such a real rollout, as most of the civil works and telco contractors in the UK have all the work they can handle at present with BT and other altnets...
"Virgin don't have any ducts to speak of. They plough all their stuff in so nobody can use their none existant ducts. Highly anti competitive but best left there."
Maybe for the cabinet to the home connections, but I would think the cabinets would be connected by ducting. Without access to Openreach's and VM's cable map data, it would be impossible to guess spare capacity, and geographic coverage.
Virgin don't have any ducts to speak of. They plough all their stuff in so nobody can use their none existant ducts. Highly anti competitive but best left there.
"Might be wrong, but I don’t think there is any case where OFCOm would or could force access to Virgin ducts etc"
Openreach wouldn't need to utilise VM's ducts, as Openreach infrastructure covers the whole of the UK anyway. If BT did want to utilise VM infrastructure, it would likely be under commercial terms, or as some kind of swap agreement. Even if VM were serious about this, Openreach have a massive head start with a growing customer base using the PIA product. Say you're a council, with lots of offices, why use VM when you can connect all your sites over PIA?
Telecommunications is on the cusp of massive changes, like never seen before. Ten years from now PSTN will be gone, most will be using converged services, and most businesses will run their software on the cloud. It isn't all about Openreach, or VM/O2, there's much more going on in all aspects of Telecommunications. The first UK Automatic Telephone Exchange was brought into service in 1912, at the end of 2025 UK Telephone exchanges will be consigned to history.
"Don’t forget they would be starting this with over £17b debt, add in the costs of the hardware and its installation."
Plus £10 Billion they're planning to borrow for infrastructure spend, total £28 Billion of debt. If I remember correctly, the combined VM/O2 company will have a combined revenue of £12-£13 Billion a year, based on current earnings. The debt isn't an issue in itself, as long as it can be serviced by earnings, but it means that VM/O2 will need t watch its profit margins. What's clear is that VM/O2 will be heavily reliant on Openreach infrastructure, the same can't be said the other way around.
In summary:
New VM/O2 venture will start out with £18 billion of long-term debt.
Planning to borrow £10 Billion for infrastructure spend.
Might be wrong, but I don’t think there is any case where OFCOm would or could force access to Virgin ducts etc. You are right if it’s not in their commercial interests to open up wholesale services then they won’t. If they are, that’s kind of my point, because in this case the commercial interests of openreach and Virgin are not aligned
Don’t forget they would be starting this with over £17b debt, add in the costs of the hardware and its installation. Perhaps OFCOM may ask them to offer access to there ducts etc as part of agreeing to this request, if they did , bet there minds would change pretty quickly , let others play with our toys, no no no...
I’m pretty sure most people will be able to work out
Openreach cut under these conditions will be vastly reduced, if indeed any of their poles or ducts need to be be used.
Virgin Media will not have their profits cut, this will be a new venture, a new revenue stream which doesn’t exist, until it does
Only loser here is openreach, if Virgin / O2 can only cover their costs or make a small profit.
What stands out for me is:
"The Applicant intends to utilise Virgin Media’s wholesale products and the Openreach Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) service [existing cable ducts and poles] to deploy parts of its network in Virgin Media’s and BT’s infrastructure. Where this is not possible, the Applicant will deploy its own infrastructure, including on public land.
The Applicant is willing to provide wholesale access to its network to other telecoms providers, subject to reaching satisfactory commercial terms.”"
Since PIA is a wholesale infrastructure product, Openreach/BT will get their cut of any VM wholesale business, thereby reducing VM's profit margin. Here's the thing, VM, and others, have little choice but to use Openreach network. If VM really had the chance to compete with Openreach directly, then Ofcom would have to remove any regulatory shackles. Much of this is just noise, and doesn't pose any threat to Openreach's business model. I'm not sure why VM are even bothering, considering the geographic dominance of Openreach, and the fact that Openreach are already offering wholesale PIA services to councils and other operators. I'm also not sure what "satisfactory commercial terms" will be competitive against BT/Openreach's regulated product offerings.
Virgin moving towards wholesale model
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/04/hints-of-virgin-media-uk-wholesale-in-liberty-property-request.html