KCOM boss spreads good news on Radio Humberside

If Hull was an independent nation it would be the fastest on Earth.

This, and other insights into Hull’s emergence as one of the UK’s most exciting tech hubs, was revealed by KCOM managing director Sean Royce on Radio Humberside today.

Sean, who was appearing on the BBC Radio Humberside’s James Piekos Breakfast Show, also confirmed that KCOM is on target to cover its entire network with full fibre broadband, offering gigabit speeds to 200,000 premises across the region by March 2019.

During the show, Sean offered DJ James the chance to “splice the fibre” on the last house to be connected to KCOM’s Lightstream broadband to complete the UK-leading rollout next year.

On air, Sean said: “Our product is as fast and as good as anything in the UK - if not the world. If Hull was its own nation it would be the fastest in the world.

“The average speed across our network is 78.6Mbps – that’s 18Mbps faster than Singapore which is one of the fastest broadband nations on Earth.”

Sean said KCOM’s £85m investment in its full fibre network is now a major driving force behind the region’s economy, adding the company’s full fibre Lightstream service is a “jet plane” compared to the “horse and cart” of old ADSL broadband carried on copper wires.

“It puts a rocket booster behind the behind the economy here where we’ve got a burgeoning tech sector,” he said.

Sean also faced questions about KCOM’s dominant position in Hull – and why other major broadband providers don’t invest in Hull.

He said: “The sad fact is these providers do not want to serve Hull. They probably look at the low average household incomes and think it’s not a market worth going to.”

Sean added that other major providers need to be challenged on why they don’t invest in Hull.

He said: “You wouldn’t go to Debenhams down the street and ask them why John Lewis aren’t here.”

You can hear the full Radio Humberside interview here. Skip to 2:09 to listen to Sean’s thoughts.