KCOM’s FTTP Broadband Network Reaches 250,000 Premises UPDATE

Hull-based UK ISP KCOM has today revealed that the ongoing coverage expansion of their new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network has now enabled them to pass 250,000 premises, which reflects their build across both East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire in England.

Just to recap, the operator had previously invested £85m+ to spread FTTP across their core network patch in the Hull area. Soon after that the operator was acquired by Macquarie Infrastructure for the hefty sum of £627m (here) and last year they began a large £100m network expansion into more competitive areas (here).

At the last count, in June 2021, we estimated (here) that KCOM were currently in the process of adding around 79,000 extra full fibre premises to their existing coverage (i.e. since the expansion programme began in 2020), thus today’s news reflects the completion of the first 50,000 premises (mostly homes) under that deployment project. Some 20 extra towns and villages across East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire have benefitted.

Tim Shaw, MD of KCOM Wholesale & Networks, said:

“I’m thrilled to have passed this major milestone, which is bringing the benefits of full fibre broadband to homes and businesses right across our region.

It’s been an amazing effort from all our teams who have made this possible; from the planning stages right through to civil engineering in the streets they have all done an incredible job. We are passing around 5,000 new properties now each month in completely new areas for KCOM, which is a fantastic achievement.

Ultimately this will benefit not only our direct customers but also our reseller and wholesale partners across the region who now have access to one of the fastest and most reliable broadband networks in the UK.”

As well as creating 30 new full time engineering jobs and apprenticeships, KCOM Wholesale & Networks (W&N) network build has seen nearly 1,100km of new optical fibre cable rolled out – enough to stretch from Hull to Prague.

In addition, KCOM has been attempting to make wholesale access to their network more attractive and have so far “onboarded 19 new Communication Provider partners; started trialling the sale of residential and business broadband alongside resellers in its expansion areas and launched its new EA Ethernet product providing customers with the ability to purchase high speed symmetrical Ethernet services and internet connectivity.”

On top of that, KCOM has also launched its new Advanced Network Build product, which allows customers to order fibre products to areas which lie outside of its current build footprint. However, they haven’t provided any detail on this to us, such as how much it costs and how it works (Google was no help either). On the surface, it sounds a bit like Openreach’s FTTP on Demand (FoD) or Community Fibre Partnerships (CFP).

UPDATE 2nd Nov 2021

For those with an interest, we have a little more detail on KCOM’s new Advanced Network Build solution, which actually reflects two products.

1: Advance Network Build

Advance Network Build is available inside and outside of the Hull Area and provides off-site Network infrastructure to connect a Customer Site before a Subsequent Service is taken. This does not provide any on-site Network infrastructure and does not cover connection charges for any Subsequent Services. This enables duct installs and fibre up to the curtilage of the Customer Site and can be useful whilst wayleaves or layouts are still being arranged to assist with the speed of delivery of any Subsequent Services.

2: Advance Network Build Plus (Fibre Connectivity)

Advance Network Build Plus (Fibre Connectivity) is available outside of the Hull Area only and provides on-site Network infrastructure on a Customer Site and the advanced installation of an appropriate fibre connectivity NTE for uncontended fibre services.

The subsequent services we offer that qualify for installation after Advance Network Build Plus (Fibre Connectivity) include, but are not limited to:

EA Ethernet & EA Optical; and
EA Direct Internet Access.

Put another way, Advance Network Build is similar to Openreach’s “Network in Advance” product, while Advance Network Build Plus is similar to Openreach FTTP on Demand (FoD).