The Battle For Trustpilot

However, with hundreds of thousands of kilometres of fibre in the UK laid, but not yet live, it was interesting to learn that damages to these networks are often only discovered when the asset is activated. Hardly surprising, of course, but not something I’d considered until this point.

With increasing numbers of fibre customers coming online, there is a corresponding increase in live connections which has brought, in turn, an uplift in known damages. With that, of course, comes an unwelcome upturn in the numbers of unhappy customers. Not the first impression that any new fibre provider wishes to make.

So, connectivity is key. Operational issues cause customers to leave and switch their fibre providers. And, in a highly competitive marketplace, consistent service is a key differentiator.

Really good personal customer service and a cracking connection are vital components if emergent AltNets are to persuade prospective punters away from the Big Two and onto their own networks – and keep them there.

And so has begun The Battle for Trustpilot (credit for this catchy phrase goes to Alex Cacciamani of Infranomics who spoke so illuminatingly on the day)

This means that AltNets will strive to take advantage of some damaging Trustpilot reviews for their larger competitors and persuade their customers to make the switch.

So why does this matter to me? And why was I so pleased to hear it? Well, put frankly, some network owners work a lot harder than others to keep their networks safe from avoidable third-party damages. And they deserve the spoils. We have many fibre sector Members on LSBUD and they put great efforts into accurately mapping their networks and providing us with regular data updates so that we can make prospective diggers aware of the presence of their assets and so greatly reduce the chance of damages.

Fibre assets are usually buried shallowest and, as such, are the first to be damaged by a poorly planned dig. Fibre has the highest risk of outages, so fibre owners need to be proactive in helping those wishing to dig safely.

Yet for all the fibre companies who do this well there are at least as many who don’t help excavators to know where their assets are in any way. In effect they lay their expensive assets, close their eyes and hope for the best.

And that’s frustrating because LSBUD can help very easily.

We know who is digging in the UK because they already tell us where and when they are planning to work. And we really want to connect these people meticulously planning their works with those who own the assets. And help them not to disturb those assets. So, if you work for a fibre company and your networks are not protected through a plan provision service, then drop me a message. We’ll be happy to do a bit of free analysis to show you how many hundreds and thousands of people are already working near your assets without you even knowing about it.

Reducing avoidable damages will save money and time in all kinds of ways. And may even contribute to a higher Trustpilot score and a corresponding increase in customers.

Even better, happy customers.