KCom passes 250,000 property milestone for full-fibre broadband network as 30 jobs created

KCom’s network expansion has reached a major milestone, with its award-winning broadband now passing 250,000 properties.

The achievement propels the Hull firm into the top five providers of fibre-to-the-premises connectivity in the UK.

Since announcing the £100-million expansion programme in January last year, a further 50,000 properties in 20 towns and villages across East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire now have access.

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Tim Shaw, managing director of KCom Wholesale & Networks, said: “I’m thrilled to have passed this major milestone, which is bringing the benefits of full fibre broadband to homes and businesses right across our region.

“It’s been an amazing effort from all our teams who have made this possible; from the planning stages right through to civil engineering in the streets they have all done an incredible job. We are passing around 5,000 new properties now each month in completely new areas for KCom, which is a fantastic achievement.

“Ultimately this will benefit not only our direct customers but also our reseller and wholesale partners across the region who now have access to one of the fastest and most reliable broadband networks in the UK.”

As the network expands, 30 new full time engineering jobs and apprenticeships have been created, with nearly 1,100km of fibre cable rolled out – enough to stretch from Hull to Prague or the equivalent of more than 103,000 double decker busses parked end to end.

It also saw it cross the Humber Bridge in a first for the company.

This year has also seen KCom onboard 19 new communication provider partners; while it started trialling the sale of residential and business broadband alongside resellers in its expansion areas. It has also launched its new EA ethernet product, providing customers with the ability to purchase high speed symmetrical ethernet services and internet connectivity.

KCom has also launched its new Advanced Network Build product which allows customers to order fibre products to areas which lie outside of its current build footprint.

Mr Shaw said: “This are truly transformational times for KCom W&N as we make great strides to being an industry-leading wholesale provider with an increasingly diverse range of both residential and business communication provider partners.

“We’ve renewed our portfolio of wholesale products and invested heavily in new IT systems and a website that will create a simplified and streamlined customer experience. I believe the future’s looking bright as we strive to keep improving and giving our customers what they want.”

It comes in a year that saw the company offload its huge national ICT business to focus on the regional network.

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