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.

Just to cheer us holders up an RNS:

27 August 2008

Kingston Communications speeds up City of London web connections
The City of London has selected Kingston Communications (KC) to provide high speed connections and hosting for its website services.

The website, www.cityoflondon.gov.uk, operates as a central portal through which an average of 160,000 monthly visitors can access local information, services and resources. It serves 9,000 residents, a 340,000-strong working population and UK and foreign visitors, including those looking to relocate.

Providing the Square Miles local government with a managed hosting platform of physical and virtual servers, KC is running a point to point high speed connection from its Docklands data centre to the Guildhall and another key location.

Keith Harvey, City of Londons senior business analyst, said that a flexible platform was being implemented to develop the City Corporations web presence.

We are using different servers to support the varied technology being utilised for our contrasting requirements, said Mr Harvey.

The team at KC understands what we are trying to achieve and this is a great help in the smooth deployment of this upgrade. They are demonstrating that they are fully committed and this is paying off in a very professional way.

In addition to information on the financial districts local government services and an online payment system for customers, the website includes COLLAGE, an image database containing more than 20,000 works of art from its library and Guildhall collections. It also features a facility to apply online for permission to film in the City, which is a major site for location photography and film.

However, City of Londons services go far beyond its core activities of providing local government and police services. The Lord Mayor is an international ambassador for the financial district and City of London is also responsible for the maintenance and management of five London bridges Tower, Blackfriars, London, Southwark and Millennium as well as the Barbican Centre, Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest.

Mark Lewis, account director at KC, said that the complex hosting platform, with a mixture of physical and virtual servers, provide the flexibility needed to run the entire website and its back-end applications. We approached the customer with a solution that was highly tailored to their requirements. Following this deployment, we can easily scale the storage space and connectivity to cope with more services or greater levels of traffic, according to City of Londons future needs.

KC, part of the KCOM Group, won the contract through the Office of Government Commerce procurement system that helps develop collaborative contracts and ways of working that can be used to save time and money.

And there's more:

Fife Council gets more bang for buck from Affiniti VoIP
Communications integrator supports public sector transformation targets with delivery of VoIP telephony

Fife Council is reaping the financial and business productivity benefits of a new IP-based communications network, which has seen more than 12,000 council phones across 350 sites replaced by advanced VoIP handsets.

Affiniti, the communications integrator which managed the switch as part of a wider project to deploy a fully converged communications network, delivered the system under budget within Fifes ambitious 15 month timeframe. This deployment marks a new step toward Fife Councils objective to provide its 360,000 residents with better access to services and support.


While the short-term budget savings from the project were immediately ploughed into improving the health and safety and performance of IT networks in schools across the region, the Council also anticipates significant cost savings and enhanced business productivity in the long-term.

Fife Council Project Manager, Lee Parry said, "Switching to a converged network represented a significant investment for us but there is no doubt of its value. We have already reduced our annual phone bill from 2.5million to 500,000 and expect to have recouped the 7.5million capital investment by 2015 with ongoing revenue savings from 2010."

The new VoIP system has given the organisation access to a log of telephony users and equipment, with individual phone numbers attributed to employees. They will be able to be reached on these numbers whether they are hot-desking or working from home.

The ability for employees to log in and out of their VoIP phones proved its worth in July when a small fire resulted in 60 staff from the Catering & Cleaning and Procurement & Supplies departments relocating immediately to alternative accommodation.

"The ability to have phone numbers 'follow' us proved invaluable, facilitating business as usual following this minor fire," noted Fife Council Programme Director, Linda Robertson. "We were able to continue working without any disruption to council services and without the need for external IT support much more straightforward than it would have been with our old system."

Ian Smith, Affiniti's Sector Manager for Scotland oversaw the project, "Fife Council is one of a growing number of organisations which have identified communications as a key enabler for business transformation and future growth. By switching to a modern IP-based network, companies can then choose to implement change at their own pace.

Either way, the added flexibility of IP allows future services to be added and as Fife has seen, the immediate benefits in terms of financial savings, business continuity planning and productivity are clear and measurable, an important consideration for both public and private sector organisations in todays economic climate."

Optomistic,

Good bit of news but where did you find the RNS as it's not on either of the sites I use, although it is a news release on the companies site.

greekman, I do apologise they are company news releases not RNS.
Better than nothing though :-))

Thanks OP,
No prob at all. As this site has ongoing problems with some RNS releases, it threw me a bit. Still a good bit of news though and it does show the benefit of checking company sites.

Edged back over 40p again today, MA's on chart both turned up. Chance of a climb from here?
Ever hopeful :-))

TELECOM company Kcom has secured the contract to provide Hull City Council's call centre services.
The city-based firm beat off fierce competition from more than 100 companies across the UK to operate the council's 300300 number.
Kcom will be awarded the contract subject to due diligence checks.
http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/Hull-telecom-firm-awarded-council-services-deal/article-311522-detail/article.html

whoopey doopy doo !! Seeing it costs NOTHING to call within Hull it should have there share price screaming back to 16 plus in no time. NOT !!

Only chance of clawing anything back from this donkey is to sell and put your money on Hull City winning the Champions League next season - you'll have a better chance of making money.

Re costs nothing to call within Hull. I agree that the calls within the Hull area code are not priced individually but you do pay a monthly fee for this use.
As to whoopy doo!! The services re Hull City Council call centers are still worth having the contract for, so unless I have misunderstood your meaning, can't see your point.
Obviously a share price of 16 would be utterly ridiculous but I feel the present SP is just about right.

Have not seen such KCOM director buys for a long time.
59,123.20 Kevin Walsh 147,808 @ 40.00p
50,103.20 Malcolm Fallen 125,258 @ 40.00p
49,780.80 Neil Gower 124,452 @ 40.00p

Not huge amount but not bad, just hope 3 directors aren't wrong.

Dont like this share 1 liitle bit - however, your on for a 15/20% rise this week guaranteed ! May even buy a few myself against my better judgement. 38/40 by Friday, they've got a few tie ins with SKY that makes them a good punt if overlooked early in week, while big financials take up all the news could be a safe bet this week.

Pre-close trading statement to be released on Friday morning.

clunk! ..... though there should be the pitter patter of tiny feet as the rats and lemmings leave another sinking ship

Dead and gone..

Wait and see... The directors bought lately at 40p and it is run by a group of thieves and villians so a lying upbeat statement shouldn,t be a problem to put together. Hints of possible tie-in ins with others etc etc .... not a lover of this share but can see it going up rather than down Friday. Talk of take-over been going on for months from employees .

if you have money in here now, you won't for much longer!

How to upset customers.

KINGSTON Communications (KC) customers will now face a 5 late payment penalty charge if they fail to settle their bill within a fortnight.
The decision to reduce the payment deadline from 21 days to 14 days has emerged after the Mail reported on a controversial proposed 1 charge for each paper bill issued by the company.
Both moves also follow a decision to shut the payment desk at the company's Telephone House headquarters in Hull, which was used for decades by people to pay their bills.
Customers outraged over the changes are now being joined by local politicians, with the region's two councils set to launch a joint inquiry into the issue.

So if you pay bills the old fashioned way (and many in Hull still do) just don't go on a 2 week holiday.
What wally came up with this idea, as one reply I read stated re mobiles and internet calls becoming increasingly popular, are KC trying to loose customers.

For full article see http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/Kingston-Communications-says-Pay-quick-face-5-fine/article-447013-detail/article.html

With todays share price, if the sp drops much more the market cap of the company won't be enough to buy one of their own iconic white telephone boxes.

Customers are not happy. This petition although concluded earlier this year help could make the Government put sufficient pressure on KC to lower it's priceing to competitors and if they are forced to, could this esult in an even lower market valuation.

Why is Hull a broadband black hole, Anita Pati, guardian Mon 10/11/08.

"We are missing out on super deals offered by companies such as Orange and Sky," say the 3,222 signatories of a petition lodged on the No 10 website earlier this year. "Scrap the monopoly that Kingston Communications hold in Hull for broadband users."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/nov/10/internet

MEMBERS of East Riding Council have formally voiced their opposition to Kingston Communications (KC) charges.
This is in response to the below charges.
The Hull-based telecoms company is introducing a 1 charge for people who receive their bills through the post.
Customers will also face a 5 late-payment penalty charge if they fail to settle their bill within a fortnight.
The decision to reduce the payment deadline from 21 days to 14 days follows the closure of the payment desk at the company's Telephone House headquarters in Hull.

http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/news/Council-calls-inquiry-KC-charges/article-487780-detail/article.html

As I previously stated when this came out. How to increase customers and keep existing ones, this is NOT.

At least if pressure is pushed re this it could just be the start of a customer revolt, as I am hearing a few moans among locals.