Every full-fibre (FTTP) network follows the same broad journey, whatever the town or the operator. Understanding the stages — and where each one can go wrong — is the difference between a build that lands on time and one that drifts. Here's the lifecycle we run, end to end.
1. Survey & design
It starts with understanding the ground. A high-level design sets the route and the budget; then intrusive surveys, test-rod and rope confirm what's actually there — existing duct, blockages, pole condition. That feeds a low-level design and a full bill of materials. Time spent here is repaid many times over: most programme slippage traces back to a survey that missed something.
2. Plan & permit
With a route agreed, the build has to be scheduled, traffic-managed and permitted. Street-works notices, permit-scheme applications and traffic management all take lead time, and they're where a lot of builds stall. Getting them in early — and agreed with the client up front — keeps the gangs working instead of waiting.
3. Civils
The heavy lifting: excavation, sub-duct, chambers and, where poles are used, pole works. Civils is usually the single biggest cost on a build, so anything that reduces it — reusing existing infrastructure through PIA, or choosing aerial where it makes sense — moves the whole number.
4. Cabling
Fibre is floated or pulled through the duct network and hung on the poles. It's methodical work, and the quality of the civils before it decides how smoothly it goes — a clean, well-recorded duct network makes cabling fast.
5. Splice & test
Every joint is fusion-spliced and every fibre tested to specification. This is where a network is made or broken: a splice that's a fraction out, or a connector left dirty, shows up as loss down the line. Proper testing — and recording those results — is non-negotiable.
6. QA & handover
Finally, continuous back-office QA pulls the evidence together into a 'build and complete' handover pack — as-builts, test results, photos. A number like 'homes passed' only means something if the evidence behind it stands up.
Why the order matters
Each stage depends on the one before. Skip or rush the early ones — survey, permits — and the cost lands later, when it's most expensive to fix. Running all six under one roof, with a single accountable team, is how you keep that chain tight.
Planning a build and want a partner who owns the whole lifecycle? Get in touch.