March Newsletter

Policy Update

he policy team has had a busy month, submitting three consultations and working on a number of ongoing issues relevant to members.
The three consultations submitted were:

• Protecting and enhancing the security and resilience of UK data infrastructure: this consultation aimed to gather further views and evidence to inform development of proposals to improve and assure the security and resilience of UK data infrastructure.
• Online Safety Act guidance — Ofcom consulted on its proposals for how internet and search services should approach their new duties relating to illegal content.
• Resilience guidance: Ofcom consulted on proposals to update existing resilience guidance to provide greater clarity on how communications networks can comply with the new framework for security and resilience that came into force in October 2022.

We will shortly be sharing a draft of our final consultation for this period:

• Street works: fines and lane rental surplus funds: the Department for Transport is consulting on its proposals on how to encourage faster and more efficient road and street works, including raising fixed penalty notices (FPNs) and extending overrun charges.
  • This consultation will close on 11th March 2024.

In addition, we have also been working on the following wider policy issues:

• Pole siting: as pole siting becomes an increasing issue in local communities and politics, ISPA has commissioned data around awareness of the benefits which are brought by poles as infrastructure. This will feed in to a briefing paper for MP engagement and an industry position paper.
• Criminal Justice Bill — IP Domain Seizure: the Government recently unveiled plans within the Criminal Justice Bill to allow law enforcement agencies to take control of domains and IP addresses where these are being used by criminals. The ISPA policy team has been engaging with the Home Office on this issue, and is developing an industry position paper.

Finally, in terms of engagement, the policy team has:

• Responded to Labour’s recent Major Infrastructure Projects Review, highlighting the success of fibre rollout and its relevance for driving growth in the UK economy, making recommendations around how to improve take-up, affordability and build;
• Following our submission to DSIT’s Open Communications consultation, ISPA has continued to engage with government officials on securing an option which is most workable for the sector;
• Spoken to Ofcom regarding incoming obligations for the ISPs under the new Online Safety Act regime, specifically around the potential impact of business disruption measures (BDMs);
• Coordinated with DSIT officials to hold an informational and feedback session on the PSTN Charter of Commitments, in order for Members to hear directly from Government and ask any questions around this issue.

Thank you to all the members who gave feedback to our responses. If you have any questions or would like to get more involved with policy issues, please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us at policy@ispa.org.uk.

ISPA Events 

This Month: Parliament & Internet Conference: 20th March 2024 

With a General Election on the horizon,  the 17th annual Parliament and Internet Conference will identify and discuss key digital policy themes, and explore how these trends will continue to impact the UK’s future as a leading digital nation.

Digital has been at the heart of the current parliament. Significant developments seeing record levels of investment increasing full fibre rollout to more than 60% of the country, an overall uptake in access to digital services, strengthening rules and regulations across security and safety have made digital advancement central to the UK’s global role and strategic advantage.

We are delighted to announce the Government’s Rural Connectivity Champion, Simon Fell MP, as our Parliamentary sponsor for the event. The Conference will feature keynotes speeches and panel discussions, bringing together 150 senior delegates from across Government, regulators, Parliament, industry and the third sector to offer their expert insight into how we can wrap up the previous challenges and confront new ones, in order to ensure the future of the UK as a digital nation.

Our senior speakers include:

- Simon Fell MP
- Lindsey Fussell, Networks and Communications Group Director, Ofcom
- Clive Selley, CEO, Openreach
- Richard Tang, CEO, Zen
- Giles Rowbotham, General Counsel and CDO, Nexfibre
- Rebecca Molyneux, Deputy Director for Broadband Investment and Regulation, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
- Prof. Simeon Yates, University of Liverpool

Capacity is now very limited with only a few tickets remaining - don't miss out on your chance on the UKs leading internet policy event by registering today!

Register here

Join ISPA for the next instalment of our ISPA Marketplace webinar series, where we shine a light on the products and services available to help ISPs thrive in an increasingly competitive UK market.

2024 is set to be a significant year for market transformation; with M&A expected, transition to customer acquisition and ROI objectives, increased competition from switching and operational efficiencies all coming into focus, this webinar will showcase some of the organisations that provide the necessary support needed for organisation throughout UK internet sector.

In this edition, we are joined by senior speakers from ISPA Partner's Viavi, Draytek and Ciena.

The webinar will be hosted via Zoom on Thursday 14th March, 11.00 - 12.30 - sign up below and a calendar invite will be shared following your registration.

Register here.

2024 ISPA Awards Open for Entries

In what is set to be another significant year for the sector, the 2024 ISPA Awards offer the chance to celebrate the progress and achievements of the UK internet industry over the past 12 months.

In a dynamic sector that is accelerating deployment of improved connectivity infrastructure and services across the UK, underpinning its future as a leading digital nation, we are pleased to unveil several new and refreshed categories that reflect the trends and successes of industry. To represent the different deployments of fibre across the UK, Best Rural Infrastructure and Best Urban Infrastructure have been introduced, replacing the premises passed requirements of previous years.

This year, the awards will highlight important aspects that go beyond the standard build and delivery of service from ISPs. ISPA is hoping to commend organisations investing resources towards communities, people and the environment through the new Best Community Engagement, Best Sustainability and Best Diversity, Equity and Inclusion awards.

ISPA Partners

VETRO is excited to join ISPA as its ethos aligns strongly with VETRO’s strategic ambition to support the development of UK’s gigabit infrastructure.

VETRO’s underlying DNA is centred on unlocking the value of digital PNI data to help AltNets generate business value from their FTTP networks says Jonathan Shears, Head UK Sales. “We help customers realise savings through increased productivity, whether rapid outage identification, accelerating activation times, streamlining design or eliminating PNI data errors”.

Working with organisations like Glide, Wessex Internet and Allpoints Fibre, tangible cost savings and OPEX reduction throughout the network development lifecycle are achievable. Tristan Tavernier Design Director at Allpoints Fibre adds that “any incremental savings and efficiency gains we can realise across each part of our business all adds up to help maximise ROI”.

VETRO looks forward to working with ISPA to create business value throughout the UK AltNet sector.

Find out more here.

Calix SmartBiz™ enables broadband providers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom to boost the success of small businesses.

SmartBiz is a purpose-built small business solution that opens new revenue opportunities for ISPs to serve small businesses.

The all-in-one solution enables ISPs to offer everything small businesses need to cater to their customers while ensuring seamless productivity for employees—including managed Wi-Fi, network security, and a variety of integrated capabilities that promote operational efficiency. New guest Wi-Fi insights also help small business owners increase the effectiveness of revenue-generating marketing campaigns.

Read more...

New Partners 2024

In February, we were delighted to welcome several new partners to the ISPA network including nexfibre and vetro:

ISPA members can join CCUK Women in Telecoms Group

We are delighted to announce that ISPA has secured free membership of the Women in Telecoms working group ran by our sister organisation Comms Council UK. Female employees of ISPA members can join the group for free this year.

This group was created late in 2021 to meet a growing demand to give women working within our industry a regular opportunity to network, share career experiences, discuss hot topics and exchange ideas.

We hope this working group will provide a tangible way for our members to demonstrate commitment to women’s development. By encouraging women on your team to join ‘Women In Telecoms’, you can actively support them with their career goals as well as giving them a voice on the key issues impacting our industry.

We’re very excited about hearing from as many women as possible from your team, so please share this notice in all of your internal communications. They can register their interest in participating in this group and receive future group updates by emailing Michaela@commscouncil.uk.

ISPA Members

This month we were excited to welcome Gigability as our new members!

Connecting rural residential and business properties to full fibre internet across the UK.

Partner Events

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

Communication Technology Expo - 13th and 14th March, ExCel London
Channel Live - 20th and 21st March, NEC Birmingham - Get your free tickets here

ISPA in the Press

This month these publications promoted our launch of the ISPA Awards - ISPReview, Technology Reseller, thinkbroadband and Comms Business.

ISPA Partners