Kingston Communications is an established UK communications company. The Group's national business-to-business capabilities encompass the provision of fully integrated and managed network solutions, complemented by the delivery of voice, data and call handling services in the towns and cities served by the Kingston Communications network. This infrastructure comprises twenty-five metropolitan fibre networks and a long distance broadband network, which was initiated for service in May 2001. Kingston's new media activities include the DSL-based interactive television service, KIT, and satellite broadband content, storage and distribution arm, Kingston inmedia. The Group's East Yorkshire network operation has served business and residential customers since 1904.

We have invested in and out of KCOM over the past and always managed a good profit on the cyclical pattern however have recently kept clear of them. I have the unfortunate situation of living in East Yorkshire being dependent on KCOM, for phones, TV & internet. There are not a lot of options when you live within their net as they have the monopoly (BT is not even available) My so called fast broadband internet sevice is slower than many standard ones I have seen and is frequently unavailable or experiencing problems ( a real sod when you want to get on the streaming data). The digital phone system is extremely noisy and difficult to hear and as for KIT, the Interactive TV system the picture is frequently broken and accompanied by sound losses. I sometimes wish we could stil get analogue phones and wireless TV systems (not much good for the real time trading though). How anyone on earth would award KCOM a contract for broadband amazes me, then again it is the government - enough said!

Still maybe I am the unfortunate one and all other KCOM customers are getting excellent service, maybe mine is the only house with poor junction boxes that leak when it rains, and also who says customer satifaction will have any bearing on contracts or SP

Just an opinion, and maybe my experiences are not typical, but I won't be going into KCOM unless they really come down. That's not to say a profit cannot be made - here's waiting till I move house again

Minx
I am amased to hear of your problems as no other such comments have been posted in the past (to my knowledge) are you perhaps an isolated case?
I would be interested as to how KCOM have responded to your problems.
Regards
optomistic

Maybe not a lot of people on the BB are from this area, anyway, mostly the problems are in house (ie KCOM)so when calling you are told they are having problems and to keep trying log on to system), which to be honest usually is fixed within an hour if not then 2, but still frustrating when you want to see what markets are doing. We frequently get "page unavailable" when on the web. , it appears that at busy times the system has difficulty handling the traffic. Re phones and TV (interconnected system using phone line) we have called them out in the past year on about three occasions, so long as it is between 8-5 then OK, don't try at weekends, unless you want to remortgage. One of our problems is due to a faulty box outside our house, KCOM always claim it is our equipment until proved otherwise. We run three PC's so know it is not the computers that are at fault. I would say the phone quality is not as good as the old analogue systems, we have changed our phones on numerous occasions in case it is us but it stays the same. The KIT TV system is good when working but has almost daily short term problems with picture / sound quality. Our TV system was actually installed by SONY and worked great, until KCOM engineers came to fit their system and changed all the connections so half the functions don't work anymore. There was a local rumour (lots of people in this area own shares from the initial floatation in KCOM) that KIT was being shut down & disbanded, due to ongoing problems but this seems to have gone quiet. Whether true or not we are not sure however it was also known to the technical team when we were on the phone, was suppposed to be confidential and they stated they did not have any firm info - but didn't deny it.

As you say, maybe we are an isolated case, it may be also because our equipment (PC;s, expensive SONY TV, and telephone systems are beyond what most people have connected and may be demanding too much from the system) However I am not impressed enough to buy anymore shares until things get better or the price looks ludicrously cheap.

Minx
Thanks for your reply, the only comment I can contructively make is regards to the 'box' and that is surely if you rent the service from KCOM and the box is their of installation then they are most likely to be responsible for it. I do think that if you have further discussions with them regards this they are unlikely to be uncooperative.
As regards KCOM shares I have been a long term holder and just in 'the red' at the moment and whilst optimistic for the future I do agree that a statement from the company as to regarding progress would help enormously, but in the meantime we holders must wait and take our chances, but IMO I do not think they are likely to become much cheaper unless bad news is released upon us.
Regards
optomistic

KINGSTON WINS 4.5M CONTRACT TO SUPPLY NETWORK FOR EDUCATION IN YORKSHIRE AND HUMBERSIDE


More detail go to: http://www.kcom.com/news/2004/news271.shtml

Excellent! good to see a news release of a new contract, and with its potential value, something I observe that KCOM rarely does, they must be particularly pleased with this one.

KCOM confirms that it is to cut 100 jobs in the division dealing with businesses, a major underperforming area last year it states.
I think we are well due to be told if we have any major overperforming areas!

Pre close trading statement made today. Anything less to report it would hardly have been worth making at all!!
Why they give anylists information and not shareholders I would be interested to know.

Perhaps it may be time to bring KCOM back ttt. Quite a few Company news announcements this month with today bringing the news release that KCOM has sold Kingston Inmedia for 34m, this will reduce debts.
Coupled with the recent takeover spec perhaps we may be in for a more profitable time over the next few weeks. All crossed!!

36K shares traded so far today. No pre results euphoria in KCOM yet, do you think it will start late Monday afternoon? feeling a bit :-(( about these.

Judging by the postings on here I must be the only one holding KCOM now, they must be worse than I thought!!

After all this time with no postings it is good to note that Little Woman's charts keep on updating.
Perhaps this latest press release may be of interest to KCOM holders who have not seen it.


Kingston to manage 2 million phone numbers for Leaf Telecom in 1.5 million p.a deal
Kingston Communications, a leading UK communications company, has won a key new deal to become the exclusive supplier of premium rate and number translation services to Guildford-based telco, Leaf Telecom. The deal is worth approximately 1.5million p.a.

Kingston will provide a fully managed service for all of Leaf's premium rate and 08 number call traffic. This includes taking over Leaf's entire portfolio of 2million numbers and providing co-location, number management and network management services.

Leaf's Financial Director, Glyn Picton, who is well known in the telecoms industry for selling the company's directory enquiries number 118118 to The Number for 2million said, "We wanted to partner with a Tier 1 telco that could provide end-to-end control over our traffic and assist with growing our business. Kingston was the ideal choice."

Dominic Campion, Account Manager at Kingston said, "Leaf Telecom is a highly regarded and significant player in the premium rate industry. Porting, hosting and managing 2 million numbers is a seriously complex project but one that we are delighted to be responsible for".

Kingston Communications is one of the leading PRS network providers in the UK, carrying millions of minutes of PRS traffic every month. Every Kingston PRS customer has a dedicated and experienced account manager. This breadth of knowledge enables Kingston to identify and deliver new revenue streams for customers through services such as Participation TV, SMS and broadcasting


Looking forward to KCOM creating enough interest to encourage an active thread.

opto

Anyone left in KCOM? Pre close trading statment:

Kingston Communications(Hull)PLC
30 September 2004

KINGSTON COMMUNICATIONS (HULL) PLC (KCOM.L)
PRE-CLOSE STATEMENT


Kingston Communications (HULL) PLC (KCOM.L) is holding its normal series of
pre-close period meetings with analysts, ahead of its interim results
announcement on 30 November.

Performance from the Group's continuing operations remains ahead of last year
and in line with expectations. Revenues have continued to grow across the
business, which, combined with the benefit from our lower cost base, means that
the Group continues to trade profitably.

Within our business services area, the acceleration in growth rates seen in the
fourth quarter last year has been maintained. We continue to secure value added,
quality business, delivering recurring revenues, from both new and existing
customers. This includes a new 5 year multi-million pound contract with North
Wales Police Authority, to provide a fully managed IP virtual private network
solution, as well as the extension of an existing relationship with Admiral
Insurance to further improve their outbound calling capability. The long-term
relationships that we develop with our customers, built on the breadth of our
service capabilities, have helped underpin our margins.

In East Yorkshire, we have seen continued success in the take up of our
broadband services. Following a repositioning of our product offering in early
August, we have achieved a significant increase in broadband take-up attracting
new customers to our service as well as migrating existing dial-up customers
over to broadband. Our current level of connections stands at approximately
20,000.

As part of our strategy to accelerate the growth in our broadband business, the
Group has today acquired Eclipse Networking Limited ('Eclipse') for an initial
consideration of 12.5 million (see separate announcement). Eclipse is an
Internet Service Provider ('ISP') focused on providing a premium broadband
offering with a reputation for innovation, reliability and quality of service.
Eclipse currently has 35,000 broadband connections.

Chief Executive, Malcolm Fallen commented, 'The Group is performing strongly and
we continue to grow the business, improve its profitability, and maintain our
margins.

'At the same time, we are investing in areas of the business that offer further
opportunities to deepen our service capabilities and deliver profitable growth.
Our acquisition of Eclipse underlines this strategy.'

Hi optomisitic, I've been trading these off and on over the last few months, whilst keeping a few in my ISA. Have topped up again this morning on this news. Seems very positive.
rct

Morning RCT I have had these some while now some at a profit but overall at a loss.
Best bit of news we have had for some while particularly about Eclipse KCOM have got a lot for their money, one or two other telcos will regret letting this one get away now its been snapped up!

Afternoon RCT, I think we will call this our thread, apart from Little Woman who is in Oz we seem to be the only two. Anyway more good news for the faithfull:

News
30 September 2004

Kingston Communications Wins Multi-Million Pound Police Contract

North Wales Police Authority has awarded Kingston Communications a multi-million pound contract to replace its entire communications infrastructure.

The five-year managed service agreement which was secured following a competitive tender - brings the number of substantial police authority customers that Kingston currently has in England and Wales to 17.

It will see Kingston replacing the force's existing network with a single converged voice and data network supporting IP (Internet protocol) telephony.

Initially linking 75 sites, the network could also support high bandwidth multimedia-based applications such as CCTV and video conferencing.

Over the last two years North Wales Police has begun implementing new cutting-edge IT applications such as a Records Management System, Duty Management System and a new Command and Control application.

Aspects of these systems will be interfaced together to provide a one stop shop approach to operational police systems, and will also be accessible in a mobile environment via palm and tablet devices.

Geoff Bradley, ICT Director at North Wales Police, points out: Our current network was reaching capacity and we simply could not make best use of the new applications or exploit the advantages of multimedia. These capabilities are very much in line with the national desire to use technology to improve front-line policing.

The IP virtual private network (VPN) solution will have a high bandwidth 100Mbps LAN Extension Service (LES)* based core linking 20 larger sites, with 55 further sites being equipped with a minimum 2Mbps IPVPN service. This means that any required change to network capacity can be easily accommodated.

As well as deploying Cisco based LAN switch and routing solutions to each site, Kingston will also upgrade the force's 22 existing Mitel PABXs to support IP telephony, adding remote IP handsets at smaller sites.

The multi-million pound managed service agreement also covers project management, implementation and ongoing support as well as call logging and 24 hour network monitoring and management.

Geoff Bradley commented: North Wales Police required a more flexible, resilient and scalable infrastructure that could easily evolve as the network changes and develops over time. Following an extensive European tender exercise, we chose Kingston because we needed an organisation who could not only provide and deliver a single solution for voice & data, but also importantly provide a fully managed service, with the emphasis on customer service.

North Wales Police are responsible for policing a large geographical area, which is home to approximately 657,000 people. It covers large rural regions, busy towns, two cities and the Snowdonia National Park, all of which require very specific types of policing support. There is also the ferry port on Anglesey, a number of significant tourist areas, and the industrial regions of the eastern side, which are experiencing a surge in development.

Other police forces that have communications contracts with Kingston include Gloucestershire, Derbyshire, Humberside, Avon & Somerset, West Mercia, Warwickshire, Sussex and Surrey.

* This allows you to connect two sites with local area networks (LANs) to create a wide area network.

Little Woman, back from Oz now anything to add to this much neglected thread. I personally believe that this pheonix is about to rise. The trading statement has been neglected by the market, had it been a negative statement we all know what would have been the result. I believe that the long termers will be well rewarded for their patience.

Hi optomistic, totally agree. I've just topped up again at 52.41p. KCOM previously bounced from this level, here's hoping.

Good luck rct, I'm well invested here. Ints 30 Nov. Like the rest of the alt telcos the market is against them at the moment but I like to think that eventually the mood will change.

Thanks, excellent timing as usual...:-(