Hull telecoms company Kcom is not blocking other Internet

Service Providers (ISP) from operating in the city, a report by

industry watchdog Ofcom has revealed.

The report, entitled Review Of The Wholesale Broadband

Access To Markets, is part of a wide-ranging consultation on

the national broadband market that surveyed some of the

country's largest ISPs, as well as broadband customers.

Ofcom received 111 responses from Kcom's Karoo customers as

a result of the public consultation process in November last

year.

It revealed a “general discontentment” among respondents in

the city about having no choice of broadband.

But the findings of the report, which included submissions

from BT, Cable and Wireless, O2 and Tiscali, revealed none of

the firms questioned claimed Kcom was “acting in a way from

preventing them entering the Hull market”.

Critics of the company have claimed Kcom blocks rival firms

from operating in the city by charging extortionate wholesale

prices for the use of its telephone lines – the so-called local

loop prices.

However, the report described the company's wholesale

service as “broadly similar to BT's in terms of its structure

and price”.

The report went on to say rival ISPs felt operating in Hull

was not cost-effective.

The size of the market – just 190,000 homes – meant

potential returns after investing in operational connections

were not sufficient, it said.

Rival ISPs also felt there was a significant number of

customers who are loyal to the Karoo brand, so as not to make

it worth their while to enter the Hull market and were

reluctant to divert resources away from existing projects.

A spokeswoman for Kcom said: “As we have said many times in

the past, Kcom does not prevent other broadband providers from

entering the Hull market.

“We believe Ofcom's recent review of the UK wholesale

broadband access market makes this clear.”