Graham joined officials from KCOM on Flemingate to mark the milestone that Beverley has just become the most connected town in the UK for ultrafast broadband with the rollout of their new Lightstream service - a significant achievement.
This is really important as ever more people and businesses rely on good broadband service for work, education, and recreation. KCOM’s decision to deliver fibre directly to the home has been vindicated and will provide real benefits to our area.
This Friday nearly 4,400 more Beverley homes will go live with Lightstream, with an additional 1,400 properties able to order the service from 27 April. Across HU17 Lightstream is now available to 19,238 properties, equalling 97.8 percent of all homes.
The challenge now is to build on this progress in the more rural areas of the constituency. 86% of properties in Beverley and Holderness are now supposed to have superfast broadband, but Graham is clear that all partners, including suppliers, the local authority and the Government, need to pull their weight to reach the areas where people are still desperate for decent coverage.
Graham asked KCOM a series of questions about how and when they are going to help people in North Newbald, which is particularly badly affected by slow broadband speeds. Villagers want faster broadband now, not in 2020, and the Parish Council is set to circulate an important survey to residents which you should look out for if you live there - this will likely inform the next stages of commercial investment. KCOM have promised to come back to Graham on this ASAP and he will be able to provide an update when they do.
