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Introduction
Kingston is a Hull-based telecoms group serving 185,000 residential and business
customers across East Yorkshire. It reaches a national market through Affiniti, its
business-to-business operation, which offers solutions and services for fixed line
and mobile voice and data, network systems integration, data storage and security.
In addition it supplies communications services to third parties, like ISPs and
resellers, who use Kingston’s network for providing telecoms services to their
own customers. Kingston Communications also compiles, designs and produces
specialist directories for businesses, including other telecom operators and
operates a call centre business. The group employs 2,600 people in 15 locations
around the UK.
Executive Summary
Kingston Communications (KC) is the second incumbent telecoms operator in the
UK after BT and has provided services to customers in and around Hull for over a
century. Originally owned by Hull city council, it raised £260m when partially
floated on the Stock Exchange in 1999, which helped fund development in new
business markets.
KC launched an interactive TV service for residential customers in 2000, offering
digital TV, video-on-demand, internet and e-mail services. Three years later KC
became one of the first companies anywhere to do so via broadband. In April 2005,
it launched Affiniti, formed from the merger of Kingston’s business services group
and two acquired businesses Omnetica (enterprise data and networks) and Technica
(storage consulting capability). Currently, take up of broadband among KC’s
regional customers stands at 70%. However, the group is keen to grab a share of the
national market and last year acquired Exeter-based ISP Eclipse to drive this growth.
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