Superfast and gigabit broadband infrastructure - Open Market Review: request for information

Annex C: Supporting Evidence

Please provide details and additional supporting evidence of any current or planned investment in broadband infrastructure (Next Generation Access broadband, ultrafast and gigabit-capable) in the identified geography using the Supporting Evidence Template provided.

In the case of planned investment, we are particularly interested in plans for the forthcoming three years (and beyond, if available).

Any information provided in response to this request should include but not be limited to:

• An appropriate demonstration/explanation as to how your broadband infrastructure or suppliers' service(s) meets with minimum standards where these claim to be Next Generation Access, ultrafast or gigabit.
• For information only, capability definition is consistent with the definitions set out in Ofcom Connected Nations Reports, e.g.;
  • decent (10 Mbps and above),
  • superfast (30 Mbps and above),
  • ultrafast (300 Mbps and above) and
  • gigabit-capable broadband, which can offer speeds of 1 Gbps and above.
• Note: where a supplier's service offer is limited to passive services only (e.g. dark fibre, duct access, mast access), this would not generally be considered to be an Next Generation Access, ultrafast or gigabit-capable broadband network, unless the supplier provides a description of how an active services provider is technically and commercially able to support Next Generation Access, ultrafast or gigabit-capable services over the infrastructure.
• Nevertheless, if a passive infrastructure supplier is offering access to infrastructure in the identified geography, it is encouraged to provide further details of its location in order that bidders for any future procurement process might consider its use in designing their solutions.
• Within each broadband category (Next Generation Access, ultrafast or gigabit-capable) please indicate: (i) what level of take-up is expected in total; and (ii) what level of take-up can be sustained by the network design and dimensioning.
• For example, a fixed wireless supplier may only be expecting 10% take-up of premises covered by its superfast network, and only be able to support a total of 20% of all premises passed converting to customers without significant capacity upgrades to the network.
• Please indicate the "normally available" and "minimum" speeds for the customers of each service e.g.

Refer to the full text of the Ofcom's Voluntary Code of Practice for Better Broadband Speeds (March 2019), however, these definitions can be summarised as follows (summary extract from Ofcom Voluntary Code of Practice):

"Normally available" speed is defined as the speed a customer could expect to receive during peak times - measured as 8-10pm for residential services and 12-2pm for business services and reflecting when customers are most likely to use the service.

"Minimum speed" is defined as the minimum guaranteed speed a customer should expect from the service, which would trigger the customers right to exit the contract if speeds fall below this minimum level and are unable to be resolved within a 30-day period.

• Appropriate indicators of quality of the service e.g., contention ratio and/or bandwidth allocation per end user, together with a technical explanation of how these will support the achievement of the normally available and minimum speeds for all users.
• A description of the technical architectures that demonstrate how the claimed data speeds and performance will be maintained end-to-end across the deployed infrastructure. This could include, for example, network connectivity diagrams, deployment/coverage maps, design/dimensioning rules for network elements, backhaul capacity information, types and quantities of equipment, technical specifications, network performance measurements etc.
• Description of all services/products offered over the infrastructure including any wholesale provision to any retail service providers currently offered and any planned extension to these services within the next 3 years. Please indicate which retail service providers are using these services and what services are being taken.
• Installation and rental tariffs for those services/products clearly identifying whether they are inclusive or exclusive of VAT.
• Confirmation from an authorised signatory that all information provided is of suitable accuracy.

In order for the Scottish Government to evaluate any planned investment and coverage claims provided as part of the OMR process, please provide evidence within 'Part D: Planned Investments' of the Supporting Evidence Template.

You should as a minimum include an outline Business Plan, a detailed calendar deployment plan and evidence of adequate financing for each stage of the proposed build.

We would also like information about company structure (for example parent company), evidence of adequate capital (or your plans to raise capital), dependencies and assumptions associated with financing (for example revenue from an existing network or assumptions on voucher revenue) and other financial and commercial information to enable us to understand the viability of your planned investment.

In assessing whether planned investments are viable, the Scottish Government may:

• review the business plans and calendar deployment plans to ensure these are consistent and in sufficient detail for each phase of the planned build.
• require evidence to demonstrate credible and plausible character of the planned investment which as a minimum should include a business plan, a detailed calendar deployment plan, proof of adequate financing and proposed technical architecture.
• ensure calendar deployment plans include the key build stages and when suppliers expect to undertake significant activities within their build programme such as design, surveying, acquisition, network build, network installation etc or the key processes involved in your build plan approach for design phase, survey phase, road notices/ wayleaves etc.
• require context regarding each delivery phase in your supporting evidence such as the risks and dependencies for the successful delivery of each phase and the mitigations/arrangements that you have in place to address these risks; a description regarding your resourcing plan for each phase; key milestones within each phase and the subsequent activities/timeframes to achieve RFS.
• review detailed design stages of any future coverage. Examples of how this could be presented are;
  • Awaiting HLD - High Level Design (HLD) has not yet been completed.
  • HLD complete - HLD/area level plan has been completed. However, Low Level Design (LLD) work has not yet been completed or is in progress.
  • LLD complete - Low Level Design (LLD) and survey work has been completed, however, subcontractors/build partners, or in-house resources to complete the network build, are still to be appointed.
  • Build team appointed - Subcontractors / build partners or if applicable in-house civil resource has been appointed and commissioned to start the network build in accordance with the LLDs. All the necessary planning, acquisitions and wayleave agreements are finalised to allow the network to be constructed.
  • In build - Network build is in progress, however premises are not yet able to take up a service.
  • RFS - Network build and end-to-end testing is complete and premises are Ready for Service (RFS) i.e. RSPs are able to offer products or services to the individual premises.
  • Note: If you are intending to use different descriptions to those above, please include full explanations of each field entry in your supporting evidence submission to accompany this data submission.
• review the current status of funding allocated to future build. If your funding allocation is linked to your delivery phase, you should reflect that in your data and supporting evidence. Examples of funding status are:
  • No funding planned or committed - While you may be planning to deliver to this UPRN, the funding is not yet in place to do so and/or you are seeking funding.
  • Funding planned, but not committed - You have in principle funding agreed to deliver to this UPRN, but the funding is not immediately available, requires further decisions such as Board approval, or is dependent on (for example) performance metrics.
  • Funding committed - Funding has been identified and has been allocated to delivery of this UPRN. There are no further conditions around drawing down or using funding and the funding is ring-fenced solely for the delivery of associated premises. This should be explained clearly in your financial plan, which should be provided as part of your Annex C: Supporting Evidence Template.
• test that funding availability is sufficient for each phase of the planned build and that the capital allocated for the specific OMR area is sufficient and is consistent with the deployment plan.
• review the terms of any financing arrangements and any dependencies and assumptions associated with the financing including assumptions and dependencies around public subsidy such as vouchers or other subsidy schemes.
• ensure that the network design and dimensioning information provided is in line with the projections made in the Business Plan regarding customer connections and growth expectations

Please supplement the attached Supporting Evidence Template with other documentation as you consider appropriate (e.g. public websites, published reports, etc). If you require any additional support, guidance or clarification with any of this, please get in touch with us at gigabitomr@gov.scot