KCOM has announced it is to take action to help customers facing the rising cost of living crisis.
The East Yorkshire-based broadband provider has cancelled a planned inflation-linked price increase this year as customers are hit with rising household bills for everyday items such as heating, clothing, fuel and food.
Like other providers, KCOM was due to implement a Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 3.9 per cent price rise in March 2022 to help it cover the costs of providing its award-winning service to around 250,000 customers across Hull, East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.
Unlike other providers, KCOM has decided not to pass on these rising costs to its customers and cancelled the contractual price increase. Virgin Media recently announced an average price rise of £4.70 per month (£56.40 a year) for its broadband customers with other major suppliers expected to follow suit.
John Rooney, KCOM Retail managing director, said: “We are all aware that the past few years have been challenging for many people. The uncertainly caused by the Coronavirus pandemic and the recent rises in the cost of living have made life difficult for many families as they’ve had to tighten their belts to make ends meet. Despite this, access to fast, reliable broadband has never been more important as we continue to work and stay connected to our friends and families more than ever before from home.
“As a business that’s been at the heart of the local community for nearly 120 years, KCOM has always done whatever it can to help and support its customers wherever it can. As a local business with deep roots across the region, our customers aren’t just our customers, but they’re also often our friends, families and neighbours.
“That’s why, this year, we’ve decided to keep our prices the same and to not add to the burden of rising costs that we are experiencing in everything from our utility bills to our shopping baskets.
“While other providers are continuing to implement their contractual annual price rises of 3.9%, plus the rate of CPI inflation, in their customers’ bills, we have decided not to. This means our customers will not see any increase in their KCOM bill in the year ahead due to CPI.
“Hopefully this will help our customers plan their household budgets with more confidence in the next 12 months and also leave a little more money in their pockets to help pay for life’s essentials.”
KCOM recently relaunched its portfolio of broadband packages, simplifying its range of products offering different speeds and data to customers. This means customers can receive better value packages designed to meet their individual online needs.
In 2020, KCOM also announced it was investing £100m to expand its full fibre network, bringing the benefits of ultrafast broadband to tens of thousands of new properties across East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. It has since reached more than 20 new towns and communities across the region winning the Telecoms Project of the Year Award at the National Technology Awards in 2021.
In 2021, KCOM also announced it has passed the milestone number of 250,000 properties across its East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire footprint, putting it in the top three providers of Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) broadband in the UK.
For more details about KCOM’s range of Lightstream Broadband packages visit www.kcom.com/home