Cornish residents aren’t impressed by BT’s erection of a 36 foot telegraph pole on their street, despite plans to deliver superfast up to 330Mbps fibre broadband with it.
Installed by BT as part of the Superfast Cornwall programme, the pole will deliver next-gen future-proofed FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) to houses on the road, but locals aren’t too keen on the height or the placement of the pole.
The pole, installed in Kenstella Road in Newlyn, apparently obscures a picturesque view of St. Michael’s Mount and narrows the pavement.
Read Recombu Digital’s guide to Superfast CornwallSpeaking to local paper This is Cornwall, Zed Sinicki said: “There has been absolutely no consultation about this, or even anyone telling us what was about to happen. When this pole is rigged and wired it is certain to be a blot on our area. It will reduce the value of our property and reduce the beauty of our views.
“A lot of residents in the street are elderly and the new pole reduces the width of a fairly narrow pavement by six inches which could have an effect if you are in a wheelchair.”
A BT spokesperson forwarded the following image to Recombu Digital showing where the pole is sited on the street. The spokesperson added:
“BT has rights in law to erect telephone poles in the public highway in order that the phone and broadband needs of local communities can be met promptly and efficiently. In this case, the pole has been installed to provide improved broadband services for local households.
“In view of concerns raised by a local resident, our engineers revisited the site and are satisfied that the pole is in the best location. It meets all the necessary guidelines and should not create any problems for people using a wheelchair or a pushchair.”
As ISP Review points out, any impact on the value of properties in the area could be mitigated by presence of improved broadband. BT’s FTTP connections currently provide speeds of up to 330Mbps, but live trials in Cornwall have shown that the connections are capable of delivering speeds of up to 10Gbps.
The cost of getting FTTP to your doorstep from BT right now is rather expensive and currently only available to businesses. Residents of Kenstella Road might have their view spoiled somewhat but they’ll also be able to get triple digit download speeds years before many other parts of the country will.
Image: BT
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