OFCOM & (forced?) inclusion of Virgin Media in new switching arrangements

[TresFrustre]

In a thread I started a poster raised the point that new OFCOM switching arrangements will make it easier to switch from Virgin Media's broadband than maybe it is now. I agreed that this would be a good thing as it seems VM have a competitive advantage at present by making it more difficult to switch.

However, I've given further thought to this.

VM has invested in its own "proprietory" cable network. BT's Openreach (I now get the name) allows any other provider a piggyback to deliver their services.  VM's cable network is closed. Therefore why should VM be subject to this one touch switching?

Probably too late to stop the process now. Just wondered what others on here thought. 

[Jomodu]

I think you also have to factor in that VM broadband will surely soon face stiff competition once speeds and prices from other service providers catch up. And that goes for its tv service as well. Routing boxes/Freeview and recording boxes are getting more efficient and user friendly with usable linked programme guides from what I have seen.

So, I can understand the business decision to hold off sharing its only sacred cow for as long as legally possible. But how much more milk is left?

[cje85]

VM are going to struggle as Openreach FTTP becomes more widely available. Sky are offering 500Mb for new AND existing customers for £45 per month. VM want existing customers to pay £62 for 500Mb (oddly the same price as Gig1, i'm not sure why anyone would choose to pay £62 for 500Mb rather than the same price for 1Gig).

[nodrogd]

VM has never been included in any local duct sharing arrangements for 2 reasons:

1) Cable services in the UK operate under an area franchising system, similar to what ITV has with it's TV regions. Any other operator can bid to OFCOM to take over that area franchise, but the result is the whole network in that area becomes the new providers responsibility. If you are a customer there you are automatically seconded to the new provider whether you like it or not. DOCSIS cable services also cannot be shared between providers. The technology does not allow for it.

2) The vast majority of the cable infrastructure at local level is still HFC & is provided by large diameter coax cabling. Overcrowded ducting is an ongoing problem as it is.

[TresFrustre]

Thanks for all your reponses.

Presumably the area number one sees on invoices etc relates to this area franchise? Been with VM for over 20 years and sometimes wondered but never asked what it meant!  Hold on, I've delved back into the dim recesses of my memory and now do recall that when the cabling was put in it was for a defined area. 

As it was VM and the companies it took over that put in the infrastructure, presumably VM would get compensation if OFCOM approved a replacement cable broadband supplier? Or would the new supplier have to put in its own cabling? Are there any instances where VM has lost an area franchise?

[ravenstar68]

Not that I'm aware of.

Rather what happened was that the smaller cable companies were slowly gobbled up by the CabelTel or Telewest.  Later on Cabeltel rebranded as NTL and they went on to merge woth Telewest to become NTL/Telewest.

The company later bought Virgin Mobile from the Branson group and also agreed a licensing deal which saw them rebrand as Virgin Media.

Virgin later bought up other emall cable companies as well.

[nodrogd]

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@TresFrustre wrote:

Thanks for all your reponses.

Presumably the area number one sees on invoices etc relates to this area franchise? Been with VM for over 20 years and sometimes wondered but never asked what it meant!  Hold on, I've delved back into the dim recesses of my memory and now do recall that when the cabling was put in it was for a defined area. 

As it was VM and the companies it took over that put in the infrastructure, presumably VM would get compensation if OFCOM approved a replacement cable broadband supplier? Or would the new supplier have to put in its own cabling? Are there any instances where VM has lost an area franchise?

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The area codes represent the billing systems taken over by VM as it absorbed other operators. The only other cable operator in the UK now is WightFibre that provides cable services on the Isle of Wight.

[Roger_Gooner]

I don't understand how we can have area franchises these days. Prior to Virgin Media the cable operators operated through franchises regulated by the Independent Television Commission (which was succeeded by OFCOM). For example, when I lived in the London Borough of Haringey, Cable London operated in that borough and four other London boroughs through four franchises with the others being for the boroughs of Camden, Enfield, Hackney and Islington (one franchise covered the latter two boroughs). As there are only two cable companies left, namely VM and WightFibre, then surely there are only two franchises.

VM's network has changed radically over the years so that regional head ends, hub sites, optical nodes, distribution cabinets and virtual hubs do not necessarily happen to be located neatly in the boundaries of old franchises, and you cannot just identify a previous franchise and hive it off to someone else.

[nodrogd]

Yes, the franchises do still exist.

There is a local anomaly near us that is repeated in many places. The town of Kings Langley falls across two local council areas, both under different franchises. The western part to the West of the Grand Union Canal is in Dacorum District, which is part of the West Herts franchise agreement. The part to the East of the canal is Three Rivers Council, which is part of the South Herts (Watford) franchise.

The west part was built out in the late 1990s, fed down the A4251 from Hemel Hempstead where the headend is. Despite the East part being separated by just a canal bridge, VM cannot cross it to serve the Eastern part of the town from the existing network as Three Rivers boundary cannot be crossed. Jones cable the original contractor built out to Bedmond to the East of KL, & then the money ran out with the network over 2 miles away. Indeed Bedmond does not have a service, only one abandoned cabinet that has never seen a cable.