The historic town of Beverley is forging a digital future as it becomes the fastest and most connected broadband town in the UK.
KCOM has launched the latest stage of its Lightstream rollout which means 97 per cent of all homes in Beverley will have access to ultrafast broadband. This is compared to 51.2 per cent of homes nationally.
The launch was welcomed by Graham Stuart, MP for Beverley and Holderness, who was on site to see the final preparations for Lightstream going live next Friday. (7 April)
Mr Stuart, said: “It’s great news for both residents and businesses that Beverley is set to become the best connected town in the country for ultrafast broadband and I know this investment by KCOM will receive a warm welcome. This is really important as ever more people rely on a good broadband service for work, education and recreation.
“KCOM’s decision to deliver fibre direct to the home has been vindicated and will provide real benefits to this area. The challenge now is to build on this progress in the more rural areas of my constituency.
“86 per cent of properties in Beverley and Holderness are now supposed to have superfast broadband but all partners including suppliers, the local authority and the Government need to pull their weight to reach the areas where people are still desperate for decent coverage.”
Nearly 4,400 more Beverley homes will go live with Lightstream next week (Friday, 7 April) while a further 1,400 properties will be able to order the service from Thursday, 27 April.
Across the HU17 postcode Lightstream is now available to 19,238 properties, equalling 97.8 per cent of all homes.
Beverley’s ultrafast status is another factor making the town a highly desirable location after it was named the seventh best place in the UK to live and work in the 2016 Hot Housing Index.
Cathy Phillips, KCOM’s chief marketing officer, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming thousands more homes to our Lightstream network, which will truly make Beverley one of the fastest and most connected towns in all of the UK.”
As well as residential properties all of Beverley’s business parks are now connected, bringing major benefits to industry in the East Riding.
Cathy added: “Not only is this good news for people using the internet at home, but it’s also great news for local businesses many of which are already using our ultrafast broadband to compete nationally and internationally.
“Giving Beverley such comprehensive Lightstream coverage will enable it to embrace the opportunities offered by an increasingly connected world and future proof the town for many years to come.”
The vast majority of KCOM’s Lightstream rollout uses Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) technology which takes fibre optic cable right into people’s homes.
Elsewhere in the UK only 1.43 per cent of homes have FTTP, with most other broadband providers relying instead on Fibre To The Cabinet technology where the last leg of the broadband journey is made on copper wiring.
Lightstream can deliver download speeds of 250Mbps (megabits per second) for residential customers and one Gigabit per second for businesses and was recently praised as “the future” by Minister of State for Digital and Culture Matt Hancock MP.
The rollout of Lightstream in Beverley is part of KCOM’s much larger programme of broadband investment in Hull and East Yorkshire.
KCOM recently celebrated a major milestone when it welcomed Teri Harrison, of Stonebridge Avenue, east Hull, as its 40,000th customer to sign up to Lightstream.
By the end of 2017, more than 10,000 homes across east Hull, including areas such as Longhill, Sutton and Bilton and James Reckitt Avenue, are set to receive Lightstream as part of KCOM’s £60m investment in infrastructure in the region.
Details of the next phases of the rollout can be found at www.kcomhome.com/rollout where customers can check when ultrafast will be available in their postcode.
Customers in the roll out areas announced today can also pre-register their interest in Lightstream on KCOM’s website to take advantage of priority booking for installation appointments before they become available to the general public.
