Monopoly-breaking internet service under way next week

MS3 Communications will officially launch its fibre-optic network at the Village Hotel in Priory Park on Monday, May 16, when companies can find out what services will be available, when and how much they will cost.

The firm is also expected to announce the identity of its main partners, which include at least one household name telecoms provider.

The network will go live on July 1 and will initially be available to companies in the Priory Park area, close to MS3 Communications’ network operations centre at Owen House.

A month later the network will be available across Hessle, Hull city centre, and along Cottingham Road in Hull, where Hull University is based.

In 18 months, the coverage is expected to range from Saltend at the east of Hull, to Beverley and other parts of the East Riding, and up to Scarborough in North Yorkshire.

Tony Hales, managing director of MS3 Communications, said: “Our priority is to get the network up and running. Our primary partner doesn’t want it to be announced yet because of commercial reasons.

“There will be two 15-minute presentations that will explain about what we are doing and the services we can offer to businesses on our network. They can learn about what and where the network is and how it’s going to operate.”

Last month engineers began laying a new network of fibre-optic cables that will for the first time offer thousands of customers a range of services that will be entirely independent of KC.

The first cables were laid on the south bank of the Humber by the Rotherham-based firm Eurocoms Group Limited.

MS3 Communications, a company set up by Mediasat3 Ltd, has with its partners made an initial investment of £3.6m that will see more than 30 miles of “next generation” cables installed, the first phase of a planned network of more than 70 miles.

Mr Hales said he expected this to rise to £12m over the next 18 months as the network and services are developed.

The premier service for business customers will be a 10 gigabyte ethernet service that will plug straight into the internet.

This is expected be available for about £120,000 a year and will be aimed at large businesses and organisations such as hospitals or councils.

Other services at a range between 100 megabytes and one gigabyte will be aimed at smaller businesses.

The unnamed major partner will offer services to domestic customers, and the network will be available to other providers.

Mr Hales said introductory services would be available for a “nominal” deposit – but urged potential customers to sign up quickly as prices will rise by 30 per cent in six months time.

MS3 Communications claims its network will allow telecoms firms to offer faster and cheaper broadband services to those currently provided by KC.

The quickest would be “fibre to fibre” services at 50 megabytes per second, with up to 20 megabytes per second for those going through the “local loop unbundling” (LLU) exchange.

The company currently employs nine staff and expects this to rise to 50 over the course of the next 18 months.

Mr Hales added: “It’s taken us about 15 months to get to this point so it’s really exciting, knowing we have got the potential to change services in the city.

“This is about offering opportunity, offering choice, protecting jobs and encouraging inward investment.”

Any firms wanting to attend the launch can register at www.ms3communications.com.