The government’s
renewed push to roll out faster and more reliable full-fibre broadband is
generating tender opportunities for utilities contractors as well as some
significant construction opportunities.
Philip Hammond’s
Budget last month showed spending on the digital infrastructure (through fibre
and 5G investment) is set to rise to from £150 million in this financial year
to £275 million in 2019/20 and £290 million the following year.
It includes £200
million to pilot new approaches to full fibre internet in rural locations,
starting with primary schools and with a voucher scheme for homes and
businesses nearby. The first wave will include the Borderlands, Cornwall, and
the Welsh Valleys.
The government has a
target for 15 million households to benefit from full fibre broadband by 2025
and its recent Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review proposes access to 5G and
full fibre broadband coverage across the UK by 2033. A new universal service
obligation for fast and affordable broadband should apply by 2020.
The upshot has been
more telecoms-related tender opportunities. Kier Group recently pointed to a
buoyant market in telecoms as the number of new alternative fibre providers
emerge - encouraged by government incentives - and the firm expects its
workload in the sector to grow.
Kier has recently
won a three-year £100m contract with Gigaclear to build high-speed fibre
networks in Devon and Somerset. Kier is also the largest single supplier to
Virgin Media for consumer and business connections and for building and
maintenance on its network.
Another
infrastructure provider, CityFibre, unveiled plans in October to invest £2.5
billion to connect around 5 million homes to full-fibre, adding 27 towns to its
existing network of ten. The group estimates its programme will create 5,000
construction jobs and help generate growth in regional towns and cities worth
£85 billion.
Indeed, CityFibre
says the scale of its plan means it will be awarding city and town-wide
construction contracts across the country for several years to come. Its
fibre-to-home building programmes are underway in Milton Keynes, Peterborough
and Aberdeen and construction is due to start in Edinburgh, Stirling, Coventry
and Huddersfield before the end of this year. Cambridge, Leeds and Southend are
set to follow.
Glenigan
Construction data highlights the £2.5 billion cabling and digital
infrastructure framework which CityFibre plans across 50 towns over a seven
year contract period. Bidders are reported to be being sought on the work which
involves the installation of 50,000 km of cable and the construction of 150
buildings to house network equipment (Glenigan Project ID:).
Meanwhile, CityFibre
projects in the pipeline also feature in Glenigan Construction Data. In Leeds,
for example, detailed plans have recently been granted for a £1.5 million data
centre in Shannon Street which is at the pre-tender stage and where work is set
to start next summer (Glenigan Project ID: 18340335).
As well as the new
market entrants, the largest provider in the sector, BT’s Openreach broadband
division, is also increasing the scale of its investment in improved services.
This summer it unveiled a list of 59 new towns and cities where it is rolling out
so-called ultrafast broadband, connecting more than 370,000 homes and
businesses.
