Home
 » ISP Special Offers » 
Sponsored Links

KCOM Launch Cheap FTTP Broadband Offer to Broaden Appeal

Thursday, Jun 18th, 2020 (7:40 am) - Score 2,399
kcom van in car park

Hull-based UK ISP KCOM has launched a cheaper Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband package (it’s actually more of a special offer on an existing plan) to help broaden their appeal, which will give new customers an unlimited 30Mbps (15Mbps upload) service from just £25 per month (normally £40).

The move comes as KCOM continues to expand “full fibre” beyond their traditional network area, where until now they have tended to enjoy market dominance as the incumbent provider. However as they build into more of East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire then they will find themselves crossing into some increasingly competitive areas with existing networks (e.g. Openreach).

For example, KCOM has largely completed a deployment across Driffield, Market Weighton and Nafferton. On top of that they’re now moving into Withernsea, Hornsea, Pocklington, Howden and Goole (here). Many of these areas also have access to Openreach’s hybrid fibre FTTC and some gigabit FTTP. A few ISPs on Openreach’s network (e.g. Vodafone, TalkTalk) make it possible to get a 36Mbps tier for c.£20-£24 per month.

Suffice to say that trying to sell an entry-level 30Mbps service at £40 per month into those new areas is a much tougher ask and hence the new deal of £25 (plus a £25 one-off connection fee). Unfortunately this is only a time-limited special offer (they’re probably testing the waters a bit) for new orders made by 12th August 2020 and the price returns to £40 after 12 months (they also warn that prices may increase during your contract term).

Sean Royce, MD of KCOM Retail, said:

“For the first time, we’ve launched an unlimited, full fibre, broadband package for just £25 a month.

That’s the cheapest we’ve ever offered an unlimited fibre broadband package for.

It’s a 30Mbps package – which means you’ll be able to stream and surf and game and do everything your family likes to do. And because it’s unlimited you’ll never run out of data – and you’ll know exactly what you’ll be paying each month.

We think this is the best value broadband service we’ve ever offered. Plus, because it’s on our award-winning full fibre network it is incredibly reliable.

If you’ve ever experienced the ‘spinning circle of death’ while you’re waiting for something to buffer you’ll know how important reliability is.”

Balancing pricing between their incumbent network patch and that of more competitive areas was always going to be a challenge for KCOM as they grow their reach, which is probably why they’re only doing this as a special offer for now. The good news is that the value gap on their ultrafast plans is less of a problem. Time will tell how effective this is at pulling customers away from rival FTTC ISPs (i.e. give them a taste of FTTP and they’ll soon see the benefits).

Share with Twitter
Share with Linkedin
Share with Facebook
Share with Reddit
Share with Pinterest
Mark-Jackson
By Mark Jackson
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook and .
Search ISP News
Search ISP Listings
Search ISP Reviews
Comments
13 Responses
  1. Avatar photo Matthew says:

    Maybe if KCOM expand enough other ISPs will consider wholesaling them.

    1. Mark-Jackson Mark Jackson says:

      The issue there isn’t just coverage, but rather the need to make a more attractive wholesale solution for major ISPs to even consider it. KCOM’s new owners have actually hinted at doing something like that, but I imagine they may want to await Ofcom’s current market review before deciding on their final approach. Likewise they may try to engage some ISPs behind closed doors before doing public.

    2. Avatar photo Matthew says:

      @Mark Johnson

      Thanks for replying appreciate that i didn’t realise that was the issue will look to see if they do

  2. Avatar photo A_Builder says:

    May also be to do with fending off regulation of a social tier?

    Could also be to get people onto using the service, who currently just use 4G, to increase market penetration and then they can try what Hyper are doing by giving them a taste of the good stuff for a few months.

    Anyway it is a reduction of barriers to entry and adoption which can only be good.

    1. Avatar photo joe says:

      Prob won’t stop Ofcom on a social tier tbh.

  3. Avatar photo Nick says:

    What annoys me is that these areas already get good broadband and are getting this KC roll out. How about us who struggle to even get 3Mbps that have been left behind. My service used to max at 1Mbps but has gradually risen over the years mainly because everyone has got fed up and moved from fixed landlines.

    1. Avatar photo GNewton says:

      @Nick: The cherry-picking approaches, along with past failures especially on the part of BT/Openreach and government policies, all have contributed to the current fibre broadband farce in this country. It will take years to sort out this mess. Incompetence doesn’t just vanish overnight.

    2. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      These areas are near where they’ve existing network so are cheaper to build to. Nothing more, nothing less.

    3. Avatar photo Nick says:

      The day after the announcement of KC moving into Howden their vans were everywhere!

  4. Avatar photo CarlT says:

    KCOM probably have more FTTP customers than Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk combined now, despite having Hull and these few market towns/villages.

  5. Avatar photo Daryl says:

    If FTTP is ever enabled in an OpenReach area, installation of any new copper connections should be avoided, even if the customer takes 40/10, it should be provisioned over FTTP.

    This will provide a much better experience for all. Reliability wise and preventing even more crosstalk on existing connections.

    Do you think OpenReach will ever take this approach voluntarily?

    1. Avatar photo CarlT says:

      No, because it’s not actually up to them. They’d be delighted to see the end of copper.

  6. Avatar photo FibreBubble says:

    No demand. Now offering slower speeds than you can get on copper for more money than many are paying.

Comments are closed

Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £24.00
132Mbps
Gift: None
Shell Energy UK ISP Logo
Shell Energy £26.99
109Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £27.99
145Mbps
Gift: None
Zen Internet UK ISP Logo
Zen Internet £28.00 - 35.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £15.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
YouFibre UK ISP Logo
YouFibre £19.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
BeFibre UK ISP Logo
BeFibre £21.00
150Mbps
Gift: £25 Love2Shop Card
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (5473)
  2. BT (3505)
  3. Politics (2525)
  4. Openreach (2291)
  5. Business (2251)
  6. Building Digital UK (2234)
  7. FTTC (2041)
  8. Mobile Broadband (1961)
  9. Statistics (1780)
  10. 4G (1654)
  11. Virgin Media (1608)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1451)
  13. Fibre Optic (1392)
  14. Wireless Internet (1386)
  15. FTTH (1381)

Helpful ISP Guides and Tips

Promotion
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms , Privacy and Cookie Policy , Links , Website Rules , Contact
Mastodon