Leading providers celebrate at the 2016 ISPA Awards
The 18th Annual UK Internet Industry Awards, the ISPAs, took place at a gala ceremony in the City of London in July. There were 17 different winners, with Hyperoptic, Relish, Venus and Wessex Internet coming away with the broadband awards in front of 300 industry peers from 65 different organisations. Apple was named Internet Hero for defending the principle of encryption and Mossack Fonseca (Panama) won the Internet Villain Award for demonstrating poor cyber-security. To see a full list of winners, click here and some photos from the night are here. The night saw entertainment from comic Andrew Ryan and Ruby and the Rhythms as well as keynotes from Openreach CEO Clive Selley who discussed the future of broadband and Joanna Cherry QC MP, who outlined her work scrutinising the Investigatory Powers Bill. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees and many thanks to the sponsors and judges for making the ISPAs possible. We’ll be launching the 2017 ISPAs at the end of the year.
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ISPA rejects MPs call for a new broadband tax
The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee published its long-awaited report on broadband in July calling for a levy on ISPs to fund the broadband Universal Service Obligation. ISPA responded to the committee welcoming their recognition of how essential broadband is, but also suggesting the focus should be on policies that make rolling out infrastructure easier and cheaper, not by calling for more taxes and burdens that make investment harder. |
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The new Government needs to set out vision for Internet policy
July saw seismic changes with Theresa May becoming Prime Minister as well as a new Cabinet being formed and we look forwarding to working with the new Ministers as they get their feet under table. Welcoming the new appointments, ISPA published a press release calling on the Government to quickly set out a vision for Internet policy and the digital economy as we move into uncertain economic times. The UK has a significantly larger and more advanced digital economy compared with other European nations and with uncertainty following the referendum, the Internet industry is perfectly placed to show that the UK is innovative and open for business as the UK begins global trade negotiations. To best support the sector, ISPA said the Government needs to play its part and ensure the sector can succeed and isn't held back by regulation in the forthcoming Industrial Strategy. |
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Cyber Security explored at ISPA Cyber Security Summit
The first ISPA Cyber Security Summit took place in July, with leading speakers from industry, vendors, law enforcement and Government exploring the legal implications of a data breach, co-operation with law enforcement and how ISPs protect their networks. There were presentations on the major cyber-security trends, Government action on cyber and where ISPs are legally liable and delegates agreed more needed to be done to prosecute cyber criminals as well as more regular and effective information sharing between industry and law-enforcement. |
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Automatic compensation could make broadband more expensive
ISPA responded to Ofcom in July on proposals to provide automatic compensation for customers affected by Internet outages. ISPA believes that empowered and engaged consumers are essential for a healthy market and we support measures that increase user confidence in their ISPs, which is why we run a free to use consumer complaints service and provide free Alternative Dispute Resolution to members. However, we did highlight some issues with the proposals. For example automatic compensation could disproportionately impact the rollout of networks in difficult to reach areas with more challenging conditions and potentially could lead to higher monthly prices. We further stated that the inter-connected nature of the Internet meant that compensation could be difficult to assess as many outages are often outside the ISP’s control. |
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Entanet’s Neil Watson joins the ISPA Council
ISPA would like to welcome Neil Watson, Head of Service at Entanet to the ISPA Council. His position was confirmed at the Annual General Meeting and joins 9 others who are elected from the membership. The Council acts as the board of the association and sets ISPA’s strategic direction. |
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Gamma Telecom joins ISPA
ISPA would like to welcome voice, data and mobile provider Gamma Telecom to the association. |
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Deals and events for members
ISPA members get a range of discounts and deals at external events and conferences and upcoming events are here. |
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