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The UK telecoms regulator has today imposed a fine of £7,500 on wireless broadband operator IX Wireless (Opus Broadband). The ruling came after Ofcom found that the company had brokeen its rules by failing in its duty to minimise the visual impact of a 15-metre tall metal mast / pole, when it was installed in Rochdale all the way back in 2023.
Just to recap. IX Wireless originally held an aspiration to cover 250,000 UK premises with their new broadband network (here), which primarily involved deploying a hybrid fibre optic and fixed wireless broadband (FWA) network across several towns in the North West of England, such as Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Nelson, Accrington, Thornton-Cleveleys, Fleetwood, Blackpool, Tameside and Oldham etc. Some FTTP has also been built.
However, the “up to” 15-metre-high metal poles that they build haven’t always gone down well with local residents in some of these areas (people often highlight their negative visual appearance), although in fairness they only need to deploy a smaller number of these in order to cover a wide area.