Monday 25th April 2022 was the day that Openreach attending Manley once more to continue their work installing the fibre line.
I dropped by to take a look and understand what has been done and where we go next.
As you can see from the images below. The fibre line has been installed on the new pole and runs it way towards the exchange.
OK Anthony, so what's next and what does this mean for me?
Openreach need to send another team out now called 'fit & test' these people will fit the end point infrastructure and test it to ensure all is well.
The next stage is to contact DCMS (Department for Media, Culture & Sport) and request the release of funds which local properties are entitled to as part of the Governments Voucher Scheme.
The timescale on this is unknown at this time.
Whilst fibre ducting can continue to be rolled out now at a faster pace (You will begin to see more Gigaloch vehicles around and also some road closures/works in the area while this work is being carried out) it is not possible to connect and make people live before the funding has been granted.
If Gigaloch were to do this it would mean that these properties would be void from the voucher and the cost would fall the the resident. We don't want that do we!?
It is possible but not confirmed right now that properties such as schools, churches, village halls etc which are not entitled to the voucher will be connected first and before any residential properties. Please do not feel frustrated by this. I hope you can understand the ease at which this can be done due to no other hurdles to overcome or third parties to wait for.
Once the Government release the voucher funds it will be all hands on deck to start connecting.
As soon as I have more information I will share this with you.