Broadband boss not expecting more poles after deal

The boss of a broadband company says he is not expecting more telegraph poles to be installed in East Yorkshire.

Furqan Alamgir, chief executive of Connexin, spoke to the BBC after his fibre network business was acquired by CityFibre - one of the UK's largest network providers.

He said: "We don't expect there to be more poles. CityFibre have traditionally been trench diggers but it will come down to what their build plans are in the future."

Connexin has previously been urged by campaigners and MPs to share infrastructure with KCOM, which owns the majority of the area's underground network.

Mr Alamgir said talks with KCOM about sharing its network infrastructure were "ongoing" and the acquisition by CityFibre would not stop it from "progressing".

He said: "I'd hate to have poles outside my own house and it's silly how this has played out.

"We've paused our builds over the last few months. We've been working with KCOM and had a lot of support from local politicians.

"We'll be working to firm up agreements and we absolutely want to share infrastructure to build our network."

However, residents in Beverley, East Yorkshire, who saw poles installed near the homes, said they are "worried" by the CityFibre-Connexin deal.

Paul Brayford, from the Beverley and Molescroft Against Broadband Poles campaign group, said: "We're worried the streets where Connexin couldn't install poles will get them and the streets that did will now see fibre optic cables strung across.

"It's really frustrating, we don't want clutter and it could get worse."

Mr Alamgir said the agreement between Connexin and CityFibre would give households and businesses a wider range of options for internet services.

He said: "Hull and East Yorkshire should have the same offering as any other place in the UK and we've always wanted to bring more choice to the area.

"CityFibre have plans to reach 8m homes over the next couple of years and we'll be able to offer more services on the back of their investment.

"It should bring more competition, improve speeds and driver better products. It's a really exciting deal."

Under the deal, CityFibre will also take on the Connexin contract for Project Gigabit, a government scheme to roll out high-speed broadband to over 34,000 premises in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire

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