Hull’s own telephone company KCOM to expand across the Humber for the first time since 1904

The Hull broadband provider will reach households outside East Yorkshire for the first time in its 116-year history by deploying ultrafast broadband to 10,000 homes in Barton-Upon-Humber and Brigg.

KCOM chief executive officer Dale Raneberg said: “I’m delighted to announce that the next phase of our ambitious expansion plan will bring the benefits of full fibre broadband to North Lincolnshire homes for the very first time.

“As a local business with deep roots in the region, reaching the short distance across the Humber was an obvious choice for KCOM when we were looking for areas to expand our award-winning network.”

Locally based provider KCOM is already rolling out its fibre network to new destinations including Driffield, Market Weighton, Pocklington, Howden, Goole, Howden and Hornsea as part of its expansion with customers in many of these new areas now accessing gigafast speeds.

As well as focusing on the larger towns of Barton-Upon-Humber and Brigg, KCOM has also signalled its willingness to build full fibre infrastructure in smaller communities such as Barrow Upon Humber and Goxhill if there is demonstrable demand.

The company will announce further North Lincolnshire destinations in its multi-million pound roll out later this year.

Mr Raneberg said: “We’ve had an excellent response from the communities where we’re providing our services for the first time, showing recognition and support for us as a truly local business, and demand for the high-quality broadband we provide.

“As many more people are working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, fast, reliable broadband has moved quickly from being an optional extra to an essential utility enabling people to get on with their daily lives. By scaling up capacity to bring our full fibre to these new areas we’ll be creating new opportunities and making life easier for thousands of people.

“Our investment in Fibre To the Premises (FTTP) infrastructure is not just making life easier with faster download speeds for people surfing and streaming at home – it is also helping to create growth and innovation and will play a massive role in underpinning the region’s economic recovery after Covid-19.”

Despite challenging circumstances, KCOM’s key worker engineers have continued building critical network capacity throughout the coronavirus pandemic, helping to connect local authorities and companies on the frontline against Covid-19 while also supporting local communities.

Research from tech research consultancy Innovation Observatory found KCOM’s full fibre network added more than £469m in value to the Hull and East Yorkshire economy between 2012 and 2018.

KCOM’s expansion plans also support the Government’s goal to make gigabit-capable connectivity available nationwide by 2025. Just 15 per cent of UK properties currently have access to full fibre broadband.

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James Mitchinson