Basingstoke ObserverON Wednesday 8 June, a third-party working on a building site in Dummer accidentally drilled through fibre and copper cables causing loss of service to around 4,000 homes and businesses in the Dummer area.
An Openreach spokesperson said, “Our network in the Dummer area of Hampshire was accidentally damaged by a third party working on a building site on Wednesday evening, affecting phone and broadband services for around 4,000 homes, businesses and other organisations. Engineers are on site working hard to resolve the situation, but it is a complex fix and may some time to completely recover.
We know how frustrating this must be for those affected and we’ll be doing what we can to prioritise fixes for vulnerable customers and key local services. We’ll also do our best to provide temporary connections wherever possible while this challenging repair work is completed. We’d ask that anyone experiencing any disruption to report it to their service provider who will then inform us.”
Work continued for a week before the issue was largely resolved, but still leaving some residents and many businesses frustrated.
On Tuesday 14 June an Openreach spokesperson confirmed: “Repair work continues on our network in Basingstoke which was accidentally damaged last week. All the affected fibreoptic cables have now been restored, meaning that most people should now have their broadband back up and running.
Due to the scale and nature of the damage, this continues to be an extremely challenging and complex recovery, especially for the remaining copper services. Some customers may find that their broadband is back online before their land line, and while this may be frustrating, it’s because different technologies are being repaired in different ways.
Repairs will continue into this week, but we’d like to reassure everyone that vulnerable customers are being prioritised and thank everyone affected again for their patience.”
Writing to Maria Miller MP, Cllr Stephen Reid said: “As you know, the phone and internet outages impacted not just homes but also business and NHS outlets. The hospital trust declared an emergency. and for many people, services are not yet reinstated.
The damage seems to centre round two issues: that the maps supplied to the contractors did not show the cables in their true positions, and that the ground-penetrating radar appears not to have seen them. It is the first of these that I think might interest Parliament.
My question is: do penalties attach when utilities supply inaccurate information about the positions of their assets? The fibre-optic cables can only have been laid relatively recently, and it would seem inexcusable if their positions were not accurately known. If there is no obligation on the utilities to supply accurate data, and no penalties are payable when they fail, I suggest that there should be. In the absence of such a requirement, this sort of event could happen repeatedly with no organisation being held accountable.”
Maria Miller responded: “I share your concern about the significant impact this incident caused, and, whilst the local NHS GP and Hospital services successfully invoked their emergency procedures, the disruption also affected local residents, businesses and those who work from home.
I agree that more broadly utility companies need to retain an accurate catalogue of the location of their assets including pipes and cables. Unfortunately the problem experienced doing the road works at Brighton Hill roundabout is not an isolated incident. Whilst it might be understandable that in the past geographically accurate records were difficult to compile, as you point out, these fibre-optic cables can only have been laid relatively recently.
