Safety harnesses
and regular checks
are conducted before
climbing the towers.
The projects are
also subject to strict
risk assessment
management (RAMs)
which ensure
safety and risk are
highlighted and
mitigated at all times.
Currently John Henry
Group maintains
280km of overhead
line wrap fibre optics
on 132kV in East
Anglia, as well as
having National Grid
substation competent
people enabling
engineers to install
telecommunications
cables within the high
voltage compound.
Kit
COMMUNICA | Issue Five
programme showed the
technology successfully
wrapping fibre optic cable around
powerlines at height, under
the supervision of a specialist
engineer.
Increased deployment of fibre
on overhead pylons is becoming
much more commercially
attractive to internet service
providers (ISPs) and network
operators, says John Henry
Group overhead expert,
Mick Ellis, who has 15 years’
experience of working to manage
40 |
and deliver major overhead
projects across the UK.
“Civil engineering works aren’t
actually always the most
commercially viable way to deploy
fibre in the UK,” he said.
“The rising costs of materials and
labour to lay fibre optic cables
in the street both in urban and
rural environments mean that
alternative method should and
often are, sought by the providers
to deploy the main back-haul of
fibre cable in the UK.
Some suppliers of power in the
UK, have also sought to diversify
their market offering to deliver
fibre optic-based services to
their customers too, so utilising
overhead pylons is proving
commercially cost-effective as an
existing asset to host the required
communications infrastructure.
“Where it may cost network
operators to deliver a civils
solution at a significant price, the
cost of wrapping fibre on utility
infrastructure can sometimes be a
more viable option across longer
distances - it’s also quicker and