Posted: 21st Sep, 2009 By: MarkJ

Fibre optic broadband operator
FibreStream, Ofcom and Hull North MP Diana Johnson have held both a private and public meetings with residents and businesses in Hull to discuss the areas limited broadband ISP competition. Presently
Kingston Communications (KCOM) is still deemed to have Significant Market Power (SMP) in the area and Ofcom's regulatory controls have thus remained in force.
KCOM's dominance has long caused annoyance for residents, whom often find themselves left with only one choice of provider. Indeed even the regulator believes that more could be done and has already threatened "
a further review" in the future.
FibreStream is of course no stranger to having ambitions in the area. It has already created a private, public and community based strategic partnership called
NextGenUs, which seeks to push 100Mbps Fibre to the Home ( FTTH ) and WiMAX wireless broadband solutions into Hull. This would include High Definition (HD) Television and telephone services.
FibreStream Comments on the Meetings:
The comparative costs for wideband IP data services in Hull and surrounding areas are significantly higher than those available for similar sized cities elsewhere in the UK and this puts the city and wider community at a competitive disadvantage.
It is FibreStream’s hope that the process now going forwards in close coordination with OFCOM to resolve the Hull Problem will have value and relevance in helping to prevent similar issues from adversely affecting emerging Open Access NGA networks in the UK.
Managing the First Mile access network transition from “Now-Gen” Copper to Next-Gen Fibre and Wireless (FiWi) will be vital to ensure customer service continuity and FibreStream sees this initiative as a quick-win for Hull that has wider and longer term benefits in terms of innovation at scale on the UK national NGA level.
In order to maintain visibility as we progress towards solving the Hull Problem, FibreStream will take an Open Letter approach to all relevant correspondence with the incumbent KCOM in the interests of transparency, as FibreStream has no Commercial Confidentiality concerns and simply wants to see the market opened up for all competitors.
The signs appear to be encouraging for residents, while increasing pressure on KCOM will no doubt have Hulls incumbent worried about a future where its market control could be shrunk. However expanding FibreStreams ambitions to the entire area will not be easy, although it already has an established plan to target the entire Great Thornton St area.