KC has today announced plans to inject £4m worth of investment into its telephone and broadband network across Hull and East Yorkshire.

The cash will be spent on upgrading its network to provide even better broadband services to more people and businesses in the region.

The firm – which will also take on a new look and officially adopt the name KC rather than Kingston Communications from 25 May – is investing £2.8m in upgrading its local network infrastructure to improve the performance of its broadband services and prepare for the launch of new internet products and services.

At the same time, it is putting a further £1m into bringing faster broadband to customers in East Yorkshire villages.

When the work is complete, 99.5 per cent of KC customers will be able to access broadband at line speeds of 2Mbps or greater. This is the target set by the Government’s Digital Britain report, released last June, for every household in the UK by 2012. BT currently provides line speeds of 2Mbps to about 65 per cent of UK households.

The investment also means that 60 per cent of KC broadband customers will enjoy line speeds of 10Mbps or better. A further 20 per cent will receive line speeds of between 8Mbps and 10 Mbps, giving most KC customers average speeds far in excess of those in rest of the UK.

KC Chief Executive Kevin Walsh said: “Customers have told us they want faster, more reliable broadband, and we’ve delivered this by continually improving our services to meet their needs, regularly topping the broadband speed league tables as a result.

“The additional investment we’ve announced today will provide a platform for launching new, faster broadband services.  We already offer the UK’s best-value call package and our aim is to continue to give customers great value for money across the range of services we provide."

KC’s Karoo service was last week announced as a finalist in the Best Consumer Fixed Broadband and Best Consumer Customer Service ISP categories of the Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA) Awards.

KC was also named as a finalist in the Digital Inclusion and Corporate Social Responsibility categories, in recognition of its efforts to get more people online and its positive impact on wider society through its KC IN the Community programme.

Work to upgrade KC's network is expected to be completed by early December.