ISPA EVENTS

Tickets now on sale for ISPA’s 23rd Annual Awards

You are cordially invited to our annual ISPA Awards ceremony, taking place on 4th November from 7pm at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane hotel on Piccadilly in London.

Now in its 23rd year, the ISPA Awards is the longest running and most prestigious awards for the UK’s ISP industry. You can find the list of the finalists here.

The event is a black tie and the evening includes entertainment, a gala awards ceremony and a three course meal with wine.

You can purchase individual tickets or make savings on purchasing tables for 10. ISPA Awards and ISPA Awards finalists can also purchase special discounted tickets.

We are grateful to our sponsors – CityFibre, EPS Global, Fibrain, Full Fibre, Netgem TV&WiFi, Plume and Magrathea – who are making this event possible.

We continue to monitor Government announcements and advice regarding the events planning to ensure the safest possible event for all and if we are forced to cancel the event your tickets will be refunded.

Book your tickets for the awards ceremony here

ISPA Awards 2021 sponsors

 

Would you like to sponsor the awards? Click here

 

ISPA POLICY UPDATE

 

Telecoms Security Bill continues through House of Lords 

ISPA continued to monitor the Telecoms Security Bill which completed the committee stage of its journey through the House of Lords ahead of schedule. Committee members tabled thirty amendments on a range of issues including human rights and parliamentary oversight. Meanwhile, ISPA held a call with DCMS, Ofcom, the NCSC and members to discuss the detail of the Bill and what it means for members.

Next steps for Draft Online Safety Bill  

This month a Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill was established to consider the draft Bill. The Committee, chaired by former DCMS Committee chair Damian Collins MP, launched a call for evidence and is expected to report by 10th December. ISPA continues to engage with stakeholders on the draft Bill and will shortly meet with members to discuss the call for evidence.

Barriers to Broadband remain a key focus 

ISPA continued to raise awareness of the barriers to broadband including the Electronic Communications Code. The secretariat met with the NAO who are writing a new piece following their 2020 report “Improving Broadband”. The new report will look at the revised 2025 target and its impact on the “final 20%”, BDUK’s contracting approach and clarity of the pipeline, barrier busting efforts so far and what more, if anything, could be done. The secretariat continued their MP engagement and finalised a brief for MPs on ECC reform. The ISPA chairman attended a Ministerial Roundtable on social tariffs to discuss DCMS’ current proposals for social tariffs and planned next steps.

 

ISPA PARTNERS

 

Infrastructure Partner

Openreach logo

Openreach announces special offer for Communications Providers to drive adoption of Full Fibre broadband

Openreach has announced a special offer for its wholesale Communications Provider (CP) customers which gives them long-term price certainty on its FTTP (Fibre-to-the-Premises) technology. Openreach is seeking to drive widespread adoption of ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband.

The new offer has been developed after extensive engagement with its customers and aims to encourage adoption of the new technology through the following set of principles:

·     Commitment: where CPs choose to purchase from Openreach they commit to using FTTP wherever it’s available (including new provides and technology regrades) - rather than older services such as those based on Fibre-to-the-Cabinet or purely copper technology - with no volume or migration targets.

·     Pricing certainty: Openreach will give pricing certainty for up to 10 years in return for this ‘stop-sell’ commitment

·     Simplicity: A single national rental price will apply to the entire Openreach FTTP footprint

·     Competitive prices: Prices will be competitive whilst offering a fair return for Openreach. CPs can tailor offers across a range of speed tiers and take-up of higher bandwidths will be encouraged with further rebates, whilst pricing is set by Ofcom on the lowest speed tier (40Mbps upstream, 10Mbps downstream).

The offer will be open for participation between 1st October 2021 and 30th March 2022. The long-term pricing certainty will last until 30th September 2031 and be available across the entire FTTP footprint. Discounts are available to CPs where they choose to place new orders with Openreach and commit to making a percentage of those on the FTTP network, where available.

Continue reading...

 

Full Fibre Infrastructure Partner

CityFibre, the UK’s largest independent full fibre platform, has been shortlisted as a finalist in the ‘Best Infrastructure Provider’ category at the 23rd Annual ISPA Awards, to be held in November to recognise their game-changing approach to serving the channel.

The last year saw a massive shift in the way people work by moving to remote working, and with a hybrid approach set to be the preferred option for many going forward, the connectivity market is evolving. The consumer now wants more; increased bandwidth, greater resilience and better service.  CityFibre believes that this is an excellent opportunity for ISPs experienced in serving the business market to target new growth and enable them to do just that!

CityFibre makes it easy to use their layer 2 wholesale Gigabit FTTH platform by helping ISPs get set up, manage the project, and ensure marketing, service and delivery is a smooth experience for them and their new customers. Offering interconnect options locally and nationally, CityFibre is disrupting the channel, unlocking growth in new markets and creating new revenue streams for ISPs.

 

 

Open Disaggregated Solutions Partner

What do you get when you work with EPS Global? We provide the highest level of service to make your life easier…

Whether it's stock availability, quick turnaround on quotes, engagement or technical advice you're after, we've got you covered.

"EPS worked with us from the beginning of this project from assisting in the solution architecture, vendor section and brokering introductions to start agreeing a viable solution that would provide scalability at a great cost per port." Robin Taylor, Zetta Connect

"EPS just exceeds every promise. No one knows all of the players in the disaggregated networking space the way EPS does, EPS has been fantastic, making it really simple by gathering all the parts together. EPS just help me make my customers fantastically thrilled with the service I provide." Dave Unger, Intervision

"We were looking for quicker access and a better price point to offer for our customers. My Account Manager at EPS is extremely responsive, has quotes back to me with timeframes, deliverables and tracking for everything supply-chain related. The knowledge base, the availability, the engagement - it never feels like I'm being sold to, it always feels like I'm being guided through a problem to be solved so that's why I would absolutely recommend EPS to anybody." Kala Wong, CANCOM

We take a customer-centric approach to doing business. We believe the personal touch is so important - offering pre-sales technical advice, expedited account set-up, and support throughout your implementation from our 28 locations worldwide. We're here to help you succeed and scale. Meet one of our Sales Managers, Seth Haller, and the customers he works with in our video: The Sales Experience

 

Fibre Technologies Partner

New information concerning anti-dumping duty proceedings about import of optical fiber cables from China has just been revealed. The European commission in the document published on 30th June 2021 provided the latest details on the proceedings and the analysis, which confirmed that dumped imports of fiber optic cables from China have affected and caused dramatic consequences on the EU industry.

On the basis of an investigation with interested parties and after having carefully verified the amount of possible losses caused by dumping actions, the EC decided to establish the definitive dumping margin. Following the analysis, the duty on imported fiber optic cables may reach even 54.1%!

For some producers who cooperated with the investigation and provided appropriate justifications to lower this rate, the duty may be eventually lower (27.4% and 40%).

Certainly, these findings may provoke a real "earthquake" on the fiber optic cable market in Europe. Undoubtedly, this issue will generate additional costs for cables imported from China which, as can be expected, will eventually be passed on to customers. Naturally, this issue does not concern European producers whose cable plants and manufacturing centers are located in the EU - such as FIBRAIN.

At the same time, we want to reassure our customers that all FIBRAIN cables are produced in our manufacturing center in Poland, so there is no need to worry or be afraid that the new regulation will affect our customers.

For the above reasons, customers should now ask themselves a question concerning the choice of fiber optic cable producers and future cooperation with them. As we all know, a European producer can guarantee not only high quality of products, but also stable prices.

We will monitor this situation and keep you updated.
If you are interested in FIBRAIN Fiber Optic cables, please feel free to contact Kevin Moulton (k.moulton@fibrain.com)

 

TV & Smart WiFi Partner 

 

The Netgem Summer Offer for ISPA Members: Premier League on Netgem TV

Netgem is offering all ISPA members a limited time offer to take advantage of an exceptional discount on Netgem TV service fees. Bring your subscribers the Premier League and UEFA Champions League.

Claim your offer now by emailing enquiries@netgem.co.uk

 

CX & Smart WiFi Partner

Consumers accelerate smart home investment

Plume has surpassed a major milestone as more than 1 billion devices have been managed by our cloud controllers globally. We’ve been closely monitoring smart home usage trends throughout the pandemic, and are excited to reveal insights from more than 30 million locations managed by the Plume Cloud. Here's a taster:

  • Fitness bikes and trainers boom in the U.S.: the category is up 132% from October 2019 to May 2021.
  • Home control is big in Europe: Smart light bulbs up 233% and security cameras up 29% from May 2020 to May 2021.
  • Wearables trending in Japan: residents turned to new ways of tracking their health, as the wearables and smartwatches category increased by 127% between May 2020 and May 2021.
  • Read more >

 

ISPA MEMBERSHIP

ISPA welcomes Gigabit Networks, Surftec and OGI Networks to our membership fold

We are the Gigabit Fibre Internet Champion for the Midlands. Our mission is to deliver the fastest, most reliable internet connectivity to turbocharge business in the Midlands As City Champions for CityFibre, which is investing more than £4bn to create over 60 Gigabit Cities across the UK, we are igniting the digital revolution for the Midlands – one of the most industrious regions of the UK. From faster businesses to more capable schools and hospitals, Gigabit is an ultrafast upgrade for the way you work, play, and live in the Midlands.

Ogi’s on a mission to power up life online for homes, businesses and communities in south Wales, installing real fibre right up to your doorstep. Real fibre is full fibre optic broadband that connects to your home or business, as opposed to the green box down the street. It’s an internet connection that’s direct to you. Like your own internet superhighway to your doorstep. Offering glitch-free internet, no matter how many people are online. Real, connected living.

Surftec solve complex IT and networking infrastructure challenges for organisations of any size so they can focus on growing their business.

Find membership benefits and form to join here

PARTNER EVENTS

ISPA offers its members a variety of discounts for events that we partner with.

Connected Britain - 21st and 22nd September
2nd Edition MarketsandMarkets Competitive and Market Intelligence Virtual Excellence Series-EU - 7th and 8th October
Working From Home Live - 24th and 25th November, register for your free tickets!

For more information and discounts please visit our website. If you would like to advertise your events here and on our website, please contact Michaela@ispa.org.uk