Hi all, just stumbled across this. Being involved with TNP, I can shed some light:
Regarding the above article - yes, this only relates to Blackpool and some other unitary and local authorities named on the procurement, not the larger Lancashire piece which as you'll know, has been BT Oneconnect/LCC since it was taken over from Lancaster Uni back in 2011. Part of the point in this procurement is to try and avoid the kind of price hikes being seen across the LCC region by offering more flexibility to Blackpool (and others).
RE some of the terminology above - regarding suppliers not being able to match BT Openreach - BT Openreach is a regulated network operator (by Ofcom), it doesn't sell services directly to customers at all (hence Local Authorities not being able to use them directly unless they spin off their own commercial operation). Any supplier registered as a communications provider with Openreach can use Openreach fibre at the same cost as anyone else, BT retail/wholesale included. That's the whole point in Openreach not being a part of BT Retail/Wholesale/Global, Openreach just runs the underlying network assets and the pricing is a level playing field to all. So yes, smaller operators can and do undercut BT (and Virgin Media). Of course, it's also possible to lay Dark Fibre and use Microwave where appropriate.
Cheers,
Robin.
