A new proposal to allow Karoo to bundle home phone and broadband services would be damaging to customers in the Hull area, it has been claimed.

TalkTalk's Head of Telecoms Regulation, Rickard Granberg, criticised Ofcom's decision, saying that it will only help consolidate the firm's dominance in the East Riding of Yorkshire, reports ISPreview.co.uk.

He told Ofcom that the proposal is "nothing short of an admission of defeat" in trying to protect Hull consumers from harm caused by a dominant broadband provider.

"Allowing KC to bundle telephony and broadband will only serve to damage if not completely destroy any prospects of competitive retail market entry into Hull," Mr Granberg suggested.

"Hull residents will be stuck with a single internet service provider and will permanently miss out on the benefits offered by a competitive retail market in terms of price, quality and choice."

He said that KC - Karoo's parent company - will never provide "the same range of services with the same low prices and choice" available to residents in the rest of the UK.

"We regret that Ofcom is considering this course of action," Mr Granberg added.

Last week, KC said that it was looking to bring network upgrade work forward in the Hull area, following a broadband outage on September 23rd.