The boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England have rejected plans for BT to install fiber-to-the-cabinet infrastructure, apparently because of how unsightly fiber cabinets would be along the streets of the affluent neighborhoods.
City A.M.'s Steve Dinneen reported on the spat between the telecom provider and the boroughs, saying BT planned to install 108 cabinets along the street but the boroughs' council "rejected 96 of the proposals as part of its drive to de-clutter its streets."
The two sides traded verbal barbs when a BT spokesman told Dinneen the two boroughs might end up being "an island of slow connectivity ... a desert of 20th century technology in a 21st century city." A spokesman for Kensington and Chelsea also had fighting words: "BT has not worked in the spirit of cooperation and needs to consider our historic streetscape. Perhaps one of its competitors will step into this role." BT then told The Register, "Other councils, including those of neighbouring boroughs, have shown a greater eagerness to enjoy the benefits of fibre broadband. We will therefore refocus our engineers' efforts in other areas where planning authorities have taken a positive approach and are keen to ensure their residents and businesses can benefit from this technology."
City A.M. reported that BT's proposal would have boosted connectivity speeds for as many as 34,000 homes and businesses up to 76 Mbits/sec, which is a tenfold increase over current speeds in Kensington and Chelsea.
You can read Steve Dinneen's report at City A.M. here. You can read the report from The Register's Kelly Fiveash here.
