East Yorkshire broadband: KCOM should share infrastructure - MP

An East Yorkshire MP has accused telecoms firm KCOM of not allowing other companies to access its underground broadband network.

Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart said this meant competitors were forced to put up telegraph poles to carry cables to people's homes.

Residents have held a number of protests as a result.

KCOM, which previously said it had not stopped its infrastructure being used, has been approached for a comment.

Operators can erect poles without having to apply to councils for planning permission, following a change to the law in April 2022.

Campaigners in Hull and East Yorkshire have described them as "a blot on the landscape" and raised concerns that paths could be blocked by them.

Mr Stuart said the fact KCOM was not allowing other companies to access its network had made the problem worse.

"KCOM needs to open up their infrastructure on the same basis as BT's Openreach [which runs the digital network in most other parts of the UK]," Mr Stuart said.

"Then we can ensure we don't have unnecessary poles erected in street after street, much to the annoyance of my constituents.

"That's what really upsets [them]- they know the infrastructure is there."

KCOM previously said where "new providers" were installing poles it was "entirely their own commercial choice" and "not because they have not been able to gain access to our infrastructure".

MS3 Networks previously said it had made multiple requests to KCOM to share infrastructure in some locations.

Hugh Davies, from another company called Connexin, said they had applied to KCOM to access its infrastructure and was expecting an update in mid-February.

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