Fibre and aerials: telecoms in your building, without the mess

Every operator that comes through leaves its cable. Multiply that by 20 years and you have the spaghetti facade we all know.

What the operators may do (like it or not)

Telecoms regulation gives operators the right to roll out network in buildings to serve customers who request it: the community cannot veto access for the fibre a resident has ordered. It can (and should) demand that the installation be orderly and notified.

What the community can require

• Prior notice of each intervention (operators must notify; insist on it).
• Use of the existing ducts (the building's common telecoms infrastructure, if it has one) rather than new clips across the facade.
• Repair of damage and removal of dead cabling from operators no longer providing service (claimable from the operator; it takes persistence but it works).

Putting it in order once and for all

In badly affected buildings: a small tidying-up project (a common vertical duct, a junction point per floor) negotiated on the back of the next roll-out or facade job. Operators cooperate better when there is a clear alternative to random clipping.

Common telecoms infrastructure in newer buildings (and not so new)

Buildings from 1998 onwards have common telecoms infrastructure: dedicated rooms and ducts. Knowing where the building's telecoms rooms are (and keeping them accessible rather than used as storage) stops every installer reinventing the route.

The record that helps

A sheet listing which operators are present, where they come in, and who was notified of what: the next time a technician asks "where do I run this?", the answer exists.