UPDATE KC Bringing Fibre Optic Broadband to 105,000 Hull UK Premises

Remember last month when KC announced that their Lightstream fibre optic broadband (FTTP/C) network would cover 60,000 premises by spring 2016? Forget about it! The incumbent telecoms operator for East Yorkshire and Hull has now decided to push out even further to reach more than 105,000 by March 2017.

At present KC’s network, which is dominated by their ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP/H) technology (this is 350Mbps capable, although their home packages currently only go up to 100Mbps) and just a little FTTC, has already achieved a total coverage of 45,000 premises passed and uptake stands at an impressive 30% (rising to more than 40% for business customers).

So, just to be clear because there may be some confusion with this coming so soon after the February 2015 update (here), KC has just doubled the speed of their roll-out plan for next year from 15,000 to 30,000 and will do another 30,000 in the year after that. On top of this there’s a new 250Mbps (15Mbps uploads) package from £69.99 per month (includes line rental cost).

Gary Young, KC’s Managing Director, said:

“We want to give our customers the best-connected homes and businesses in the UK, and that’s what KC Lightstream delivers. The feedback we have received from customers who have taken the service, homes and businesses alike, has been extremely positive.

We said from the start that this is an ambitious project and it will take time to make Lightstream available across our entire network. The industry-leading take-up rates we have achieved so far have enabled an increase in our level of investment to accelerate the pace of deployment.

We believe the additional investment we are making to speed up our roll-out is fantastic news for KC customers and for our region.”

Councillor Stephen Brady, Leader of Hull City Council, said:

“This is fantastic news for Hull and its growing digital economy, giving our residents and businesses – both current and future – access to state-of-the-art internet connectivity.

KC’s investment also supports us in our ambition to establish the city as a leading hub for digital technologies, alongside developments like the C4DI digital hub in the Fruit Market and the recently announced Ron Dearing University Technical College. It’s another milestone in the city of Hull’s transformation and provides the platform for further exciting developments ahead.”

Last week’s Budget also announced that, from 1st April 2015, Hull would become one of 50 cities across the UK that are part of the Government’s Superfast Cities scheme, which means that small and medium sized businesses can receive a grant of up to £3,000 towards the cost of installing superfast broadband.

Apparently KC’s fibre roll-out to date has so far cost the operator around £15 million and the next phase is likely to be a bit more expensive due to its ever increasing focus on more outlying areas. Last year KC secured a £200m finance package and so most of the new investment is likely to come from that.

UPDATE

Added a bit more detail about the new 250Mbps package above.