Hull reaches broadband milestone as KCOM announces growth in fibre customers

Communications provider KCOM has announced that the number of its customers connected to its Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) Lightstream service across Hull and East Yorkshire is now greater than those on copper ADSL broadband.

Cathy Phillips, KCOM’s chief marketing officer, said: “I am delighted that more people than ever have access to and are benefiting from our Lightstream fibre broadband.

“We’re connecting a new customer to our Lightstream service every 20 minutes, showing the demand for our world-leading broadband speeds is greater than ever. Our commitment to continued investment will cement Hull’s reputation as the digital capital of the UK.”

KCOM recently announced it will reach 100 per cent of its Hull and East Yorkshire network with Lightstream by March 2019.

The company met its target of reaching 75 per cent of its network by the end of 2017, prompting Culture Minister Matt Hancock MP to say: “KCOM has done a tremendous job in rolling out full fibre broadband for the homes and businesses in Hull.”

KCOM’s £85m rollout of Lightstream is now well underway and will reach areas including Bransholme, Orchard Park, Little Weighton and Walkington in the months ahead. In several areas where it’s not possible to install fibre in underground ducts extra telegraph poles will be raised to help reach the final corners of the network.

Lightstream is up to 35 times faster than standard broadband and can deliver download speeds of 350Mbps (megabits per second) for residential customers. Businesses can connect at one Gigabit per second, giving them a competitive edge on the UK and world stage.

The technology KCOM is rolling out means fibre cable runs all the way to the customer’s home or business, rather than making the last leg of the connection from a street cabinet using copper cables.