Digital Region Project may seek commercial operator to rescue it

[karl101 10]

Bt Openreach website has undergone a revamp,...

 

Same for Sheffield Centre:

 

"Exchange Name: SHEFFIELD

 

Status: Exploring Solutions

We’re keen to bring Superfast Fibre to your area and are exploring how best to achieve that. We may deliver it as part of our commercial programme, or by working in partnership with your local authority. At the moment you can’t order Superfast Fibre. For more information visit the FAQ section."

 

Although that looks like a long winded way of saying "we have no plans and we won't be upgrading, now stop whining and give us all your money."

 

K.

[AlexAtkin 10]

Nothing to get excited about, apparently they have just renamed the "not in our plans" tag to "exploring solutions".

[gremlin_mick 10]

Stop ruining my dreams you bad man

[Paddy 10]

If you look at the key to the when & where map it shows that the one before exploring solutions is planned area and that mentions a timescale of 18 months. I'll put money on the fact that the Attercliffe and City Centre exchanges are at least 2 years away from any FTTC upgrade by BT because they are the ones that make the most profits from leased lines.

[Blackbeard 10]

How interesting, we shut down a system that was working and give money to BT to build a new system.

 

"A £22m deal has been agreed between BT and councils in South Yorkshire to extend the availability of high-speed fibre broadband in the region.

 

It comes just over a year after the £90m, publicly-funded, Digital Region project was scrapped.

 

The new project will be jointly funded by BT and Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster councils, with local authorities paying about £7.5m."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-29273411

 

Have I lost the plot?

[Paddy 10]

How interesting, we shut down a system that was working and give money to BT to build a new system.

 

"A £22m deal has been agreed between BT and councils in South Yorkshire to extend the availability of high-speed fibre broadband in the region.

 

It comes just over a year after the £90m, publicly-funded, Digital Region project was scrapped.

 

The new project will be jointly funded by BT and Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster councils, with local authorities paying about £7.5m."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-29273411

 

Have I lost the plot?

 

No you haven't. In hindsight maybe it would have been cheaper in the long run to have given the money to BT to upgrade all the exchanges in S Yorks. How there's not been a public enquiry into the loss of £150 million (latest estimates) on the Digital Region project I don't know. I also wonder what has happened to all the management staff - where are they now??

[gribz 10]

I also wonder what has happened to all the management staff - where are they now??

 

This should answer a couple of your questions; http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/waste/2013/07/happened-repos.html

[AlexAtkin 10]

No you haven't. In hindsight maybe it would have been cheaper in the long run to have given the money to BT to upgrade all the exchanges in S Yorks. How there's not been a public enquiry into the loss of £150 million (latest estimates) on the Digital Region project I don't know. I also wonder what has happened to all the management staff - where are they now??

 

On the other hand though, if Digital Region had taken off it would been competition and in a better position to start rolling out ACTUAL fibre to the home. It was a great idea in theory but poorly planned and executed.

 

Also as I understand it, Digital Region was planned long before BDUK and so the option of simply giving the money to BT wasn't there, the rules for what they could do with the money were different. By the time BDUK happened then the existence of Digital Region blocked South Yorkshire getting any BDUK money.

Edited September 21, 2014 by AlexAtkin