KC's perceived monopoly over the Hull phone and broadband market could soon come to an end, according to one telecoms provider.

Wholesale operator aql believes a new number porting agreement should go some way towards eroding the firm's market share.

KC – which sells broadband services under the Karoo brand – has long been the predominant internet service provider on the Humber estuary.

As aql explained, subscribers with a Hull telephone number have previously been required to tie this to their fixed broadband subscription.

However, the firm said that its cloud service allows any home or business to move away from the existing KC network.

Paul Greaves, Sales Director at aql, said his company sees the porting agreement as "a likely catalyst" for increased competition in the Hull area.

"I'm sure we'll see new specialist operators cropping up," he stated.

"An example of such an operator is theonenetwork.co.uk, who can merge your office and home numbers onto one mobile device from £5 per month".