Summary

  • That is where route length stops being the useful measure.

  • For a regional ISP, the practical error is to carry all those different states under one label: planned.

Location is not route clearance

That is where route length stops being the useful measure. A pole may exist but be defective, congested, wrongly identified or separated from the intended route by land for which access has not been secured. A duct may appear continuous but contain a blockage. None of those possibilities makes the map useless. They simply mean that a map is discovery evidence, not permission to build.

The distinction is already visible in the UK's formal rules. Ofcom's Telecoms Access Review for 2026–31 keeps regulated access to Openreach ducts and poles, but its reference-offer requirements treat several things separately: location, information about spare capacity, visual surveys, inspection, reservation and the relief of congestion. Ofcom also says providers may encounter sections that are unusable because they are faulty or full, and retains a requirement for network adjustments in defined circumstances.

Openreach's own PIA material makes the same distinction operationally. Its mapping tools help a provider identify and reserve a route. Its network-adjustment terms then require an accepted infrastructure order and adequate information, and ask the provider to consider alternative routes and engineering options. Where work is self-provided, permissions, consents and wayleaves still have to be obtained. The UK government's land-access guidance adds another independent boundary: an operator that needs another party's land must secure the relevant right to install, operate or maintain apparatus.

Sources