DRL Sale of Assets

[Chalky]

I don't think anyone else has mentioned this from the Digital Region website, looks like it's been there a while:

Quote:Notice is hereby given by the Board of Digital Region Limited of the sale of the primary assets, in whole or in lots, with or without the customers of the business, including the following:

- A fibre-to-the-cabinet network utilising more than 1300+km of fibre optic ducting (c.545km of which is DRL owned duct, the rest being leased via 3rd parties)

- Deployed across 36 BT exchange areas and 1359 DRL owned street cabinets in the South Yorkshire region covering 80% of all premises.

- An existing customer portfolio of 6 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and 4 local authority councils providing services to 3367 end points.

Particulars and conditions of the sale may be obtained from their advisers PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Benson House, Wellington Street, Leeds, LS22 5LZ for the attention of Penny Mellor or Andrew Kerr 0113 289 4125. [Dated 18th September 2013].

So there's the figure that has been with-held all this time. 3367 end points, meaning on average less than 3 connections per cabinet. It's probably a deal less than that if you discount any leased lines from the list of end points.

I wonder if we can find out any further information of how deliberations (if any) are going on.

   

[alexatkin]

I seem to recall it was mentioned before as we discussed if 3367 end points does actually mean customers or not. It sounds like it does, but then why not refer to them as such?

[Chalky]

I guess because one customer could have more than one endpoint. I'm thinking the council for example, or schools; Maybe all the schools come under one 'customer' but are several 'end points'

[alexatkin]

I was thinking the opposite, because Origin strongly implied that there must be considerably more "customers" than 3000 based on their own customer base. But I can see how that would work.

[WillPS]

Origin are full of it. Put simply.

[alexatkin]

http://www.itproportal.com/2013/12/23/ge...z2oK62Bf2X

Quote:Geo Networks looks set to assume responsibility for the assets of the collapsed Digital Region project designed to provide superfast broadband to rural areas across South Yorkshire.

The Times reports that Geo is in talks to acquire the network and add the extra 545km of coverage to its network that already accounts for 3,000km of fibre-optic cables in the UK and Ireland.

Digital Region was first established in 2010 with the intention of laying on superfast broadband for almost 500,000 homes and businesses in South Yorkshire. Citizens and business owners in Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield were all expecting to benefit from one of the fastest broadband services in the country, which was to operate independently of BT’s network.

The project started to run into difficulties earlier this year and was eventually shut down in August after it was revealed to have wasted some £150 million of public money. The councils involved agreed that closing the project down was “the best deal for the public purse” and by the time it was closed it was losing £1 million each month and had just 3,000 customers.

Assets owned by Digital Region pass by 80 per cent of all premises in South Yorkshire with six ISPs and four local authority councils already using the network leading industry commentators to argue that the failure was due to inadequate marketing.

Geo Networks decided not to comment on the rumours and is a company that has been owned by venture capital company Alchemy since 2008 after Hutchison Whampoa set it up.

The firm has a significant footprint in the UK and provides a high-density network used by banks and broadcasters as well as companies that handle large amounts of data. Its cables run through the London sewer network and if the deal to buy Digital Region is completed, Geo Networks will see its network grow by a sixth.

[gribz_uk]

Interesting. Not sure how this will pan out for the consumer, this company seems to be business oriented more than customer. Maybe they will just buy up the fibre and tell everyone else to get stuffed? Will they become a wholesaler like BT Wholesale?

Only time will tell !

Unless Origin know any more of course..

[masterfunk]

Surely a company being business orientated is a good thing. Lack of business is what caused DR Ltd to close down in the first place.

[SpencerUk]

Does anyone have a Times account so we can read more?