Thor Poletest Ltd and major UK telecoms training provider secure strategic deal.

Christchurch engineering-tech business Thor Poletest Ltd today announced a strategic training deal with major UK Utilities training organization CTTS . Thor Poletest Ltd provides state-of-the-art, non-destructive (NDT) condition assessment systems for inspecting timber utility poles. The proprietary technology transforms the speed, accuracy and user experience of objectively collecting the critical information needed to prudently manage aging timber utility pole networks. Unlike other NDT systems or traditional techniques, Thor Poletest™ measures the strength and serviceability of the complete length of a utility pole, measures ground compaction, pole embedment depth and can locate anomalies and areas of interest all from a simple 60-second test.

CTTS were recently acquired by French Telecoms services giant Telenco and are now the first and largest UK training organization to support telecommunications lines workers and clients using this leading NDT technology. All overhead lines students will be introduced to the technology from February 2022, with specialist training and certification available.

Aging pole networks, a growing backlog of testing and a global shortage of traditionally skilled testers is driving demand around the world. For the UK telecoms industry in particular, demand is expected to spike with better asset data and more frequent testing becoming a necessity.  Driving this is the likelihood of increases in pole utilization and loadings as alternative broadband providers increasingly provide FTTH/P and take advantage of access granted to the existing pole network by the regulator Ofcom.

Both CTTS and Thor Poletest Ltd see innovation as key to tackling major asset management challenges and are committed to helping clients and the labour market adapt to what is now a rapidly transforming industry.