You may be aware of telegraph poles for broadband being erected across Hedon and Preston, and I am keen to let you know what is happening with this.
I want to see competitive broadband offered in Hedon, Preston and everywhere in the East Riding, and I equally don’t want to see telegraph poles being erected unless it’s absolutely necessary.
It’s right that the Government has made it a central mission to upgrade the whole country’s broadband to make it as cheap and competitive as possible, and it has taken steps to ensure that new players in the market can come in and provide new networks.
In Hedon and Preston this has resulted in a telecommunications company, MS3, installing telegraph poles, as they say they cannot come to agreement with KCOM with regard to sharing their underground infrastructure.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been working with campaigners, your local councillors, East Riding Council and MS3 itself to get to the bottom of this.
MS3 is entirely within its rights to erect these poles. There have been reports that companies cannot erect new poles – this is not the case, and hasn’t been for almost a decade.
It’s true that there are significant barriers to poles being erected in conservation areas, and I’ve received assurances from MS3 that it will work closely with the council to make sure its impact is as limited as possible. I know your local councillors will hold their feet to the fire on this.
I’m determined to do all I can to make sure that everyone in my constituency has access to the best, cheapest broadband possible and this can only be achieved by creating competition in the KCOM area, and that requires companies like MS3 to be able to install commercially viable infrastructure. If the erection of poles is to be avoided, agreement will need to be reached with KCOM to use its underground infrastructure.
I wanted to reassure you that I am working with the companies involved to encourage sharing of infrastructure and, wherever possible, to avoid multiple fibre cables. If you would like to be kept informed about what I'm doing on this issue, you can let me know below.
Kind regards
This letter was sent to residents of Hedon and Preston on 6th October 2023
