scte PRESENTS
Testing and Measurement Panel 1: NETWORK BUILD TEST AND MEASUREMENT
Ben Allwright’s panel gave us a reality check on the UK’s fibre-build era. The gold rush may have slowed, but “voucher projects continue, infill continues, customer connections continue, diversionary works continue and so do network extensions.” With
“around 20% of the UK still to fibre,” he said the sector wasn’t so much at an end as in “a pause… a period of strategic reflection.” Allwright, founder and former CEO of Welsh altnet Ogi, told SCTE members he wanted an honest discussion about what operators and contractors learned during a decade of rapid rollout. He cited the familiar ingredients of pain: “pressured build plans, shortages of experienced staff… lightweight procurement in some areas, umpteen contractors… [many] didn’t actually always meet the mark.”
Guy Miller, a non-exec director at MS3 Networks and its former CEO, set out the investor view of test and measurement through the idea of a “trusted network”. Drawing on MS3’s build in Hull – “a very interesting UK telecoms market where Openreach are not present” – he admitted that even well-
funded builds can cut corners early. “We started testing and measuring six months into build, which is quite terrifying to think about now,” he said. Miller described how, in a rush to scale, MS3 sourced customer equipment at speed and paid for it later. “We flew over 10,000 boxes and only found out two years later, after a rigorous testing regime, that they all leaked. There was water everywhere in our network,” he said. When the team challenged the supplier, the response was surreal: “We were told it was because the UK had different rain to China.” For Miller, testing isn’t a technical nice-to-have – it’s part of building the valuation. Buyers in due diligence don’t just want test results; they want fast access to them, traceability and evidence that failures were fixed. “Access to every test you’ve ever done… the ability to have it all in one platform… [and] a complete understanding of your test records was critical,” he said. He added: “It’s remarkable how many businesses I’ve come across that have vast amounts of test results – 25% of which are terrible – but didn’t actually do anything with them.”
12
MARCH 2026 Volume 48 No.1
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker