KCOM's own network: switching, landlines and the USO

KCOM's own history page sets out how the split began:

• 1899 to 1904: the Telegraph Act 1899 let local councils set up their own telephone systems. KCOM says only 55 of 1,334 local authorities went ahead, the local council among them, and its Telephone Department opened its first exchange on 28 November 1904.
• 1911 to 1914: KCOM's history says that when the National Telephone Company's licence expired in 1911, the Post Office took over its network across the country, but the council's department stayed independent. In 1914 the council bought the National Telephone Company's local network, nine exchanges, for £192,423.
• 1988 to 2007: the department became Kingston Communications in 1988, was partly floated on the stock market in 1999 and was renamed KCOM Group PLC in 2007, when the council sold its remaining stake.

So while the Post Office's network became BT and later Openreach, this area kept its own operator, and KCOM says its K6 phone boxes are still painted cream, not red, where its telephone service runs.

The investment group Macquarie bought KCOM in 2019; ISPreview reported in 2026 that it was exploring a sale, but we found no completed sale as of late October 2026. Our history of UK broadband covers the rest of the country's story, and our guide to community-built broadband networks like B4RN looks at a very different kind of locally rooted network.

KCOM started building Lightstream, its fibre to the premises network, in 2012, and completed the first stage in 2019. Fibre to the premises (FTTP), usually called full fibre, means fibre optic cable runs all the way into your home, rather than stopping at a street cabinet and finishing over copper phone wire. KCOM says that made its home city the UK's first full fibre city.

Two facts about the network as it stands (checked October 2026):

• Size: ISPreview puts KCOM's network at over 305,000 premises. The area Ofcom regulates as KCOM's core market is smaller, about 198,000 premises; KCOM has built further out since 2019.
• Copper on the way out: KCOM has been moving customers off copper services, such as the analogue phone line and ADSL (copper broadband), onto fibre.

Full fibre ends at an ONT (optical network terminal), the small box inside your home that your router plugs into; see our guide to the full fibre ONT box.

KCOM sells broadband and phone to households itself. It also has a wholesale arm, KCOM Wholesale, which sells fibre broadband, voice and other services to other communications providers, and says it delivers its broadband "through our CP partners" (CP is industry shorthand for communications provider). Since 1 August 2025 it has also offered other networks access to its ducts and poles, a product called KPIA.

For years there was little choice: in its 2021 to 2026 review, Ofcom said KCOM kept a near monopoly at wholesale and retail level, meaning less retail choice and higher retail prices than the rest of the UK, and changed its rules to encourage other providers in.

Retail use of KCOM's wholesale service is only starting. On 22 October 2026, ISPreview reported that Squirrel Internet had become the first provider to launch services on KCOM's newest wholesale full fibre product. Squirrel isn't one of the providers on our comparison. Beyond that, we couldn't find a current, reliable list of the retail providers that buy KCOM's wholesale broadband, so ask any provider offering you a deal which network it would use.

Since 12 September 2024, Ofcom's One Touch Switch process has covered switches between different networks, so it works between KCOM's network and a rival's. You contact only the new provider. Your current provider must send you the key switching information, including any early termination charges (fees for leaving before your minimum term ends), and your old service ends when the new one starts. Our guide to switching broadband providers covers the process in full.

If you're joining KCOM, it says it contacts your current provider, handles the handover and tells you the earliest switch date, which in many cases you can change.

The 31 January 2027 landline switch-off deadline is for Openreach's copper phone network (the PSTN, or public switched telephone network), not KCOM's. As of late September 2026, Ofcom's landline page gave no retirement date for KCOM's old network, and none for Virgin Media O2's either. Our guide to the digital landline switchover explains the national picture; here is KCOM's approach.

• KCOM is already partway through. Its switchover page says much of its copper phone network is over 40 years old, and some of it up to 100, that around 60% of premises have been upgraded, and that it will contact customers when their turn comes (checked October 2026; KCOM doesn't date the figure).
• Most homes get an adaptor that plugs into the ONT, with the phone plugged into the adaptor. Homes without fibre yet may keep their copper connection unchanged, through a solution KCOM puts in at the exchange.
• Terms and prices stay the same. KCOM's help page says the terms that apply to your phone service and the price you pay remain unchanged after the switchover.
• Notice: KCOM is a signatory to the government's PSTN Network Operator's Charter (published 24 March 2026). Under it, network operators commit to give communications providers at least 12 months' notice before ending any analogue voice service, and not to move a known telecare user to a digital line until the customer, the provider or the telecare company confirms a working, compatible telecare solution is in place.

If anyone at home has a telecare device (such as a personal alarm that calls for help), has accessibility needs or relies on the landline for care or emergency support, KCOM asks you to contact it for extra support. Our guide to telecare alarms and digital landlines has more on keeping an alarm working through a switch.

GOV.UK says nobody will lose their landline because of the switchover. To take your number to a new provider, see our guide to keeping your landline number when you switch.

The broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) is a legal right to request a decent, affordable connection if you can't get one. BT handles requests across most of the UK, but in KCOM's area you ask KCOM. Our guide to the broadband Universal Service Obligation explains the speed standard, who qualifies, the cost limit and how to apply. KCOM's USO page adds a few points about its own area (checked October 2026):

• KCOM says the vast majority of homes and businesses in its area can already get its Lightstream full fibre.
• Where it can't install Lightstream because of an "exception", buildings with two or more flats, offices or mixed uses where it first needs a wayleave (a legal access right) from the building owner, it provides its Standard ADSL broadband instead. KCOM says it is requesting those rights and will prioritise buildings where a customer has asked for service.
• To bring more USO requests under the cost limit, KCOM says it pools local demand so the costs can be shared.

KCOM also offers Flex social access packages, including full fibre and voice-only options, for households receiving certain financial support. They're 30-day rolling contracts with no early termination charges or annual price rises, and KCOM appears on Ofcom's list of social tariffs (updated 17 August 2026). Our guide to broadband social tariffs explains who qualifies and how to compare them, and our cheap broadband deals show standard packages at your postcode.

1. Find out what reaches your address. Put your postcode into our comparison, or pick your town from our broadband deals by area pages, and check KCOM's own site separately.
2. Ask any provider which network it would use. Some use more than one network in the area.
3. Switch through the new provider with your KCOM account reference (first seven digits) ready.
4. Check the early termination fees on KCOM's "Implications of Switching" document.
5. Tell the new provider if you want to keep your landline number.
6. Plan for power cuts. If you rely on the landline, check whether you have a KCOM battery back-up unit and a corded phone, and ask any new provider what back-up it offers.
7. Flag telecare or care needs to KCOM, or to your new provider, before any change to your phone line.
8. Return KCOM's kit in the prepaid bag and keep proof of postage.