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KC to nearly double superfast Fibre to the Premises broadband coverage

KC, the Hull-based ISP has pledged to almost double its FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) footprint this year, connecting 15,000 properties to its superfast broadband network. 

KC Lightstream is already available to 17,000 homes and businesses in Hull, where thousands of homes and companies are enjoying guaranteed – not up to – download speeds of 100Mbps and 350Mbps.

Properties in areas including Beverley, Kingswood and the Greatfield estate are currently connected and streets in the area around Hessle town centre and parts of Brough will be added from July and December respectively. 

KC to nearly double superfast Fibre to the Premises broadband coverage
KC and the Sunshine (Broad)band

Gary Young, KC’s business and consumer director, said: “This is the latest phase in our ambitious multi-million pound project to give our customers the best-connected homes and businesses in the UK.”

“The service has been extremely popular among both residential customers and businesses. We’re finding many homes are using it to stream online TV, while businesses are making the most of it to exploit services like cloud computing and video conferencing, which improve efficiency and flexibility.”

KC, which operates exclusively in Hull, has opted to roll out faster FTTP broadband instead of the FTTC-type technology which BT is rolling out across most of its next-gen network.

FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) provides much faster download speeds than copper-based ADSL but as the last mile of FTTC is made up of copper the old distance difference still applies. In other words, the further you are away from a connected street cabinet, the slower your service will be. FTTP on the other hand is a pure fibre connection and can provide much faster and more reliable speeds.

KC, formerly known as Kingston Communications, runs a virtual monopoly in Hull. While this hasn’t been especially great for competition, it looks like this arrangement will see Hull residents able to get FTTP broadband before most others in the UK will.

KC hopes to have a total of 32,000 properties connected to its FTTP network by 2014. But it won’t be stopping there. Young adds that the company is looking to roll out more widely throughout 2013 and beyond so expect to hear similar announcements down the way.

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