ISPA Feature
Parliament & Internet Conference 2023
The 16th Annual Parliament & Internet conference took place this month with over 100 ISPA members, industry representatives, journalists and government officials in attendance. The conference heard interesting discussions on the future of net neutrality and why broadband must remain a political priority post the next General Election. Baroness Neville-Jones addressed attendees on her experiences on the development of the Government’s position on cyber security. Thank you to the conference sponsors, Hyperoptic, for their support.
ISPA Policy
New Broadband Minister, broadband rollout debates and Ofcom consultation
Following the creation of the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Julia Lopez has been reappointed as the Digital Minister and she will serve as both a DSIT and DCMS Minister. In Parliament, Dame Dianna Johnson held a debate on the installation of telecommunications calling for a statutory requirement for communications network operators to apply for permission on any proposed installation of telegraph poles and a requirement for consultation with affected residents. Elsewhere, Ofcom launched a consultation examining the terminology of broadband products.
Fraud Strategy
The Government has launched a new three-year Economic Crime Plan 2 (ECP2) to crack down on money laundering, kleptocracy, and sanctions evasion, as well as cut fraud. It sets out that ECP2 will act as the overarching plan under which the Government’s long-awaited new Fraud Strategy will operate. It also commits that the Fraud Strategy will look to "Block frauds at source by dramatically reducing the number of fraud and scam communications that get through to the public".
Meanwhile, the Commons Select Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has published a report which warns that the Home Office's voluntary sector charters to combat fraud - for telecoms, finance and tech - do "not produce a strong enough incentive for industry to rapidly improve its response to fraud". It urged the Department to formally set out how it expects voluntary charters to contribute to its overall fraud strategy, including that they specify what changes the Government expects to see as a result of the charters, by when these will be achieved, and what action it will take if they are not.
ISPA Partners
Openreach has hit a huge milestone in its upgrade of the UK’s broadband infrastructure
Openreach has now made its ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband network – the largest in the UK, available to 10 million homes, businesses and public services.The roll-out of Full Fibre broadband across the country is part of an ambitious £15bn infrastructure project to provide reliable, fast broadband that meets the needs of modern life.As well as improving the broadband that people use on a daily basis, the upgrade is set to improve the quality of UK public services.
Mergers, acquisitions and investment
As we approach the 50% FTTX landmark, consolidation/acquisition has already begun. What are the attributes that would gain a favourable valuation?
With the challenges of the last five years, there has been an influx of material product into the U.K. to supplement the existing manufacturers/products.
Those who succeeded in securing a premium sustainable supply chain will be the ones who's networks should be considered to have the longevity to warrant a higher intrinsic valuation and therefore be more sought after during the coming consolidation period.
Hear more from Jon Benger at the ISPA Business Summit on 8th June 2023.
How CityFibre delivered a full fibre solution from Calix to unlock the UK's digital potential
Calix partners with innovative internet service providers (ISPs) around the world to deliver the benefits of next-generation fiber broadband. In markets where fiber penetration has been historically low—and consumers and businesses are underserved by aging copper-based networks—fiber networks are having a transformational impact on communities of all sizes.
One such market is the U.K., where CityFibre—a Calix customer since 2018—is building an end-to-end fiber network that's revolutionizing the country’s digital infrastructure. CityFibre operates the U.K.’s second largest fiber network and expects to build out its “full fibre” network to a third of the U.K. by 2025.
Why Perform Bi-directional Fibre Testing?
VIAVI Solutions have launched a new blog series detailing the reasoning why more and more service providers across the globe are asking installers to utilise bi-directional OTDR testing as part of their fibre deployment processes.
Read the blog to find out what bi-directional testing is, how it helps improve the quality of fibre networks, and how it can be automated to make testing faster, simpler and smarter than ever.
ISPA Events
ISPA Awards 2023 - registration is open until 28th April!
Entries are open across 15 categories for the 25th year ISPAs anniversary.In what has been another big year for the sector, the 25th ISPA Awards offers the chance to celebrate the progress and achievements made across the year. In light of all the investment, innovation and progress of recent times, we are pleased to unveil a refreshed and revitalised set of categories in line with the buoyant market we are currently experiencing. The list of categories for this year:
- Best Rural ISP
- Best Business ISP
- Best Consumer ISP – more than 250k customers
- Best Consumer ISP – 50k to 250k customers
- Best Consumer ISP – fewer than 50k customers
- Best Infrastructure – more than 250k premised passed
- Best Infrastructure - fewer than 250k premises passed
- Best Customer Experience
- Best Integrated Communication Campaign
- Best Channel Support
- Best Hosted Service
- Best Customer Protection
- Best VoIP
- ISPA 25th Anniversary Award
- Digital Inclusion Award
- Internet Hero
To participate, all entrants must register here by 28th April and then submit the written entry forms to awards@ispa.org.uk by 30th June. The 25th anniversary award, Internet Hero and Digital Inclusion award registrations will open later in the year.
The winners will be crowned at the gala ceremony on 9th November in new exclusive London venue in front of more than 400 guests from across industry. As in previous years, several of the categories will undergo independent testing from thinkbroadband, a leading independent broadband information and data site.
If you would like to become part of the 25th ISPA Awards, sponsor a category and build your organisation’s brand at the event then please contact krystian@ispa.org.uk.
As we reach 50% deployment of FTTP and industry doubles down on take-up and revenues, this full day ISPA conference seeks to explore through a series of panel discussions and keynote speakers, how the broadband sector is set to fair over the next 12 months and beyond. Key areas of interest include:
- The state of the broadband nation
- The products and services essential to enhancing a network
- Education and awareness of gigabit capable broadband
- What customers are looking for
- Looking beyond premises passed and ways to encourage take-up
- Field services and supply chain shortages
- The expected mergers, acquisitions and investment in 2023
Last month...
ISPA Marketplace - March 23 | Calix, Viavi, PelicanCorp
In 2023, the UKs ISP market is set to go through a significant shift with increased market competition, more stringent investment and an increased focus on converting the premises passed into premises connected. As such, it is now more important than ever for service providers to explore the complimentary services and products on offer to enhance their provisions.
In this first one hour webinar we introduced the following speakers:
- Jan-Willem Nijman, EMEA Sales Director at Pelicancorp
- Ross Stoddart, EMEA Marketing Manager at Viavi
- Dan Bloch, VP of Global Cloud Solutions at Calix
ISPA Articles
ISPA insights interview with Hyperoptic
In this latest ISPA insights interview, ISPA sat down with James Fredrickson, Director of Policy and Regulatory affairs at Hyperoptic, our sponsors of Parliament & Internet 2023.
In a critical year for broadband this in-depth interview shone a light on the most poignant developments in our sector. The conversation took a deep dive into the conference, state of play in the market, ISP best practice for consumers, policy development, terminology and much more.
Partner Events
ISPA offers its members a variety of discounts for events that we partner with:
Connected North - 17th -18th April, Manchester Central
IoT Tech Expo - 30th November - 1st December, Olympia, London