KCOM Pick Ricoh UK to Help Deliver its £17m Copper to Fibre Switchover

Hull-based network builder and broadband ISP KCOM, which is currently busy expanding their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to more of East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), has this week selected Ricoh UK to help deliver their £17m copper to fibre phone network switchover.

The operator’s full fibre network already covers c. 300,000 premises, which includes around 200,000 across their main patch of Hull. But in September 2022 they announced a second £100m network expansion and upgrade project (here), which aims to extend across another 50,000 premises by around 2025.

As part of the above work, KCOM also committed £17m to replace their ageing copper phone lines in Hull with their full fibre network. This is more about migrating the “170,000 customers still on copper phone lines” (inc. 14,000 on copper broadband products) to the new network. KCOM has already covered their old network patch with FTTP, but a lot of people still haven’t upgraded from ADSL, FTTC (VDSL2) and phone line-only products etc.

Ricoh UK has now been selected to support KCOM in delivering related adapters to homes and businesses across Hull and East Yorkshire, which will enable customers to make phone calls over the internet instead of ageing copper wires (we assume this means Analogue Terminal Adapters – ATA).

Joanna Parker, Business Development Director at Ricoh UK, said:

“Ricoh is proud to be able to support KCOM’s plan to keep all homes and businesses in the Hull and East Yorkshire area connected with their full fibre network.

We’ve collaborated with local charitable organisations including This-Ability who help young adults with disabilities get into work, Hull4Heroes, Hull City Council and Hull Job Centre to recruit and hire five members of the local community to fulfil these roles initially on a guaranteed 12-month contract, with a view to long-term employment. Ricoh is also part of the Fair Pay Initiative guaranteeing a fair, overmarket-value wage.

Giving back to local communities that we operate in is important to Ricoh. Partnership with KCOM, the local charities and community organisations supports our wider ESG agenda around inclusive recruitment and fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.”

The new partnership will run for 12 months and start at the beginning of July 2023, while KCOM currently expects the migration work itself to finish by the end of 2024.