b'VIRGIN MEDAat least 30 of whom have been with us well in excessThis has enabled of 10 years. These engineers, are integral to the manyVM and other ISPs successes we have enjoyed in delivery.to access the Openreach Somestandoutsoverthepast5yearswouldbethenetwork in Camden Head End Exit, H3G Mobile 5G Installationsorder to andBackhaulProject,andtheInfillBuildAreasindeliver PumpLaneandBroomfield,Chelmsford.Eachoftheir these was a highly pressured delivery programme that requiredthoroughprojectmanagement,backofficeproducts andcommercialsupport.Inthemainthough,itwasacross the experience and aptitude of our engineers who werea larger prepared to work in challenging conditions and oftenfootprint. committed to unsociable hours over many months that made the difference and have helped to strengthen theH appily,ourinternaltrainingschools company brand and relationship with our client. havebeenabletoprovideourengineersand Looking Ahead supervisors with the accreditationAs to our relationship with Virgin Media, I would say it required to do so, and we have been able to upskill them continues to thrive. It would be fair to say there havequickly for deployment on these orders. As mentioned, been a few challenges over the past 3 contract termswe do not suffer a great deal of churn on our projects, spanning the last 16 years. However, have managed towith engineers staying with us long term, but as and sustain a very good level of service during our presentwhenwedorecruit,thePIAaccreditationpieceis term, and as a result, we have been invited to tender fornow rolled out as part of the induction process where additional work in our footprint and beyond. We mustrequired. continue to work hard, maintain the level of service we currentlyprovideandlooktoenhanceourportfolioTrainingfurther,intherightareas,toensurewearewell-positioned when the contract comes up for renewal. IDepending on the nature of the deployment, trainees think it would be fair to say there is no time to stand stillare generally sent to the field under supervision from or any room for complacency in telecoms at present.a lead operative. This could range from 3 months for Cabling Teams, to over a year for Live Fibre Splicers andCivilsOperatives.Anyengineerworkingonthe Oneelementthathaslive network needs to be aware of the ease at which changedtheshapesignificantoutagescanbecaused,andduetothe of our deliveryaggregation systems now in use, it is possible that a break on VM or bend on a single fibre could see up to 64 residential premises lose service!Innovations Aggregated fibre would be one of many changes to the network I have seen during my tenure, and for this and many other network solutions, we have a crucial role toprojectsplay in installation, testing and maintenance in Virgin over theMedias busiest area in terms of customer density. We past 2 yearshope to be providing these services for a long time to have been thecome. advent of PIA (Physical Infrastructure Access). The Networker Autumn 2024 17.'