Forres man claims Openreach is not fulfilling pledge to provide discounted superfast broadband
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A CONCERNED Forres resident claims that Openreach has abandoned its promise to install superfast broadband at his home at a discounted rate.
Brian Mathews of Balnageith Gardens has complained to Openreach about not carrying out work quickly enough for him to take advantage of government-backed vouchers that deliver ultrafast broadband to rural areas not covered by private investment.
He said: “Openreach are abandoning the scheme.
“But it has nothing to do with the number of vouchers pledged – they said back in 2021 that they had enough pledges to proceed.
“It is purely down to their own tardiness in doing the work.
“For months, there was no activity at all.”
In early 2021, Brian received an email from Openreach asking him to pledge the benefit of the voucher to their company. He did so and received confirmation that his voucher had been issued and Openreach had received enough pledges to enable the scheme to go ahead in March 2021.
He said: “There was activity in April including a BT team searching for a local distribution box which turned out to be located under gravel in a neighbour’s driveway.
“Later they erected a new telegraph pole at the junction of Balnageith Gardens and Pilmuir Road West.
“Activity ceased until January when engineers appeared doing trunking work down Pilmuir Road West.
“They also strung a cable from the recently erected telegraph pole to an existing one at the junction of Balnageith Road.
“About a week later, vans turned up in Balnageith Gardens and a cable was drawn from Pilmuir Road West to the distribution box in my neighbour’s drive.”
However, around a month ago, Brian was advised that his discount voucher was due to expire.
He contacted the relevant government department asking if a replacement voucher could be obtained, was informed it could not be, and was advised to contact Openreach.
They claimed that not enough vouchers had been committed for them to proceed under the scheme.
Brian said: “Having carried out a considerable amount of work to date, Openreach are now abandoning the scheme and Forres will not get the promised Gigabit broadband connections.”
When contacted, an Openreach spokesperson explained that more than a third of those who pledged did not go on to validate their voucher.
She said: “We’re not able to go ahead with the additional build proposal but this does not affect Openreach’s direct investment in an ultrafast network for Forres.
“Our build has now reached 44 per cent of Forres households and businesses - 2600 premises - with take up of 20 per cent, and work continues.
“That’s why people will see new infrastructure being installed locally.
“Some other local homes will be included in our build for the Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% programme.
“We’d encourage local people to check their postcodes and register for build updates at www.openreach.com.”
Brian pointed out that Openreach’s explanation does not square with the work already completed in his area.
He added: “Their claims do not have a ring of truth.
“Openreach do not publish criteria for acceptable levels of uptake and they do not reveal the number of premises pledging their vouchers or validating them in any area, so it is impossible to challenge their claims.”
