Graham Stuart, Member of Parliament for Beverley and Holderness, is working to get the best possible outcome for Hedon and Preston on the ongoing installation of telegraph poles.
Graham believes that residents should not be subjected to unnecessary and unwanted street furniture and has expressed his view to KCOM that they may be making it more difficult than it should be for companies like MS3 and Connexin to share KCOM’s infrastructure.
KCOM is required to allow competing companies to use its infrastructure, as Openreach is across the rest of the country. As a result of his concerns, Graham has written to Ofcom to request an investigation into competition in the KCOM area.
He has also written to the minister for telecommunications infrastructure, John Whittingdale, to highlight the issues in the KCOM area and to request he presses broadband companies and network providers to work together to share infrastructure.
Graham is keen to see MS3 and Connexin work together to avoid unnecessary multiplication of services and has written to their respective CEOs to encourage cooperation.
These actions do not help residents of Hedon and Preston who are currently seeing poles going up in their streets. In order to ensure the fewest number of poles Graham has received confirmation from MS3 that it will not install poles in conservation areas without local agreement via the Town and Parish councils.
He has emailed residents to encourage those with complaints about the sites of specific poles to register them with MS3 as soon as possible, and to update residents on his work so far. Graham will continue to update residents who sign up to his Telegraph Poles mailing list below.
Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart said: “I don’t want to see our streets littered with poles, and I want to make sure that the companies erecting them don’t impose poles on people without considering their needs.
“That’s why I’m working with all the companies involved to come to an agreement to make it possible for competition in broadband to exist.
“I’d like to see KCOM’s infrastructure available to competitors quickly and at a reasonable price. I’ve raised my concerns over this with Ofcom and the minister responsible. I will continue to pursue all possible avenues to get the best results for everyone in Beverley and Holderness.”
