Telecom firm spends £100m expanding network

Kcom runs a phone network in Hull and East Yorkshire

Plans by an East Yorkshire telecoms firm to extend its full fibre broadband network to another 50,000 homes and businesses have been announced.

KCOM said it planned to spend £100m to expand services in 14 towns and villages across East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The company said it would mean a total of 350,000 properties would be able to access its service.

Some of the money would also be used to replace copper phone lines in Hull, the firm said.

The region was the first part of the UK to have a full fibre service, where a fibre optic cable comes right into your home rather than to a streetside cabinet, reaching 200,000 homes in 2019.

KCOM chief executive Tim Shaw said the expansion was a "statement of confidence" in the business and region.

"This investment will be a major boost to the local economy creating dozens of skilled jobs and enhancing local supply chains," he said.

The company was founded by Hull City Council in 1904 and was the only telephone company to avoid being nationalised by the government.

Famous for its cream phone boxes, the business was partly privatised by the council in 1999.

The authority sold off its remaining stake in 2007.

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