PRESS RELEASE
The Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA UK) is delighted to unveil the winners of the 21st Annual UK Internet Industry Awards, the ISPAs.
Despite the awards finally being of age to legally drink in the USA, the gala ceremony did not take an excursion to the bright lights and soaring temperatures of Las Vegas. Instead it took place at the Intercontinental Hotel on Park Lane in London. The ceremony returned to the Capital after being held for the first time in Manchester last year. The awards once again brought together a huge range of companies which together make up the UK ISP industry. Whether large or small, regional or national or new or established, they were represented at the ISPAs, a true reflection of the breadth and diversity of the UK ISP community.
Some of the winners on the night included BT, Openreach and the IWF, who won Best Customer Solution, Best Infrastructure Provider and Best PR Campaign respectively. Other winners included smaller ISPs such as Storm Internet for Best Hosted Service, TrueSpeed for Best Rural ISP and KCOM for Best Consumer ISP. Hyperoptic were the big winners of the night, taking home two awards for Best Customer Service and Best Business ISP.
The Internet Villain category was withdrawn this year after ISPA felt that its’ light-hearted nature was misunderstood and that it sent the wrong message. This year’s Internet Hero was chosen by the ISPA Council, and was awarded to Andrew Ferguson, Editor of ThinkBroadband.
ISPA Awards Chair of Judges Andrew Glover commented: “I think a huge congratulations are in order for all of the winners of the 21st Annual ISPA Awards.
“The internet sector has now become fully mainstream and is one of the biggest drivers of innovation, growth and overall human satisfaction. Internet related issues now top the list of policy challenges facing policymakers in the UK and across the world. Whether the issue is full-fibre broadband or online safety, ISPs continue to be a vital voice in these discussions and I am glad that the ISPA Awards reflect the full spectrum of the UK ISP industry and the contributions that the sector makes to businesses and consumers across the UK.”
2019 ISPA Award Winners
Business ISP
Hyperoptic- The judges felt that by maintaining good reliability, excellent customer service and affordability whilst scaling up in size made Hyperoptic deserved winners.
Consumer ISP
KCOM– In a tight contest, KCOM was singled out for their commitment to consumers through their specialist in-home problem solving team and AirScout WiFi testing kits at installation.
Partnership
EXA– In an extremely close category, the judges singled out Exa for their work through the Exa Foundation and The Ahead Partnership to help schools, businesses and the community to develop technical skills amongst young people and set them up for the future.
Commendation
Wifinity– In recognition of the particularly strong competition for this award, the judges decided to award a commendation to Wifinity for their excellent work in partnership with the YMCA.
Infrastructure provider
Openreach– A closely fought contest saw Openreach coming out on top, praised by judges for their innovative delivery methods to drive infrastructure development at scale.
Commendation
CityFibre– In a hotly contested category, the Judges also decided to Commend CityFibre.
Customer Solution
BT– The judges agreed that BT’s success in scaling an easy to use solution to a wider marketplace made them worthy winners.
Best hosting
StormInternet– After a commendation in 2018, the judges felt that this year, Storm Internet pipped the competition. They were particularly impressed with their identification of potential risks for customers and targeting investment internally to address these.
Customer Service
Hyperoptic– The judges were impressed with Hyperoptic’s customer-first culture, borne out in their impressive feedback scores, and seen in initiatives like their rapid-response hyper-biker.
Cyber security
RM Education– RM Education’s tailored solutions and high retention rates, along with their commitment to the challenging environment of schools convinced the judges they were deserved winners.
VOIP
Voipfone– In a closely fought contest, Voipfone took the prize for their drive for innovation through R&D, and their flexible, ‘pick and mix’ contracts.
Executive of the year
Jenny Davies – M247: In a year where female nominees vastly outnumbered their male counterparts, Jenny Davies shone through for successfully overseeing a three-way merger and driving the digital agenda, whilst maintaining a thoroughly flexible and inclusive working culture at M247.
Rural ISP
Truespeed– The judges agreed that Truespeed’s commitment to local community hubs and focus on hard to reach areas made them stand out above the other entrants.
PR Campaign
IWF– The judges praised IWF’s call to action, targeting a hard to reach demographic in a very difficult campaign subject which made good use of social media.
Internet Hero
Andrew Ferguson, Editor of ThinkBroadband
Commendation: Oscar Tapp-Scotting & Paul Blaker, Global Internet Governance Team, DCMS
- The Internet Services Providers’ Association (ISPA UK) has around 200 members, including large consumer providers (BT, Virgin Media, Sky) as well as alternative network providers (Gigaclear and Hyperoptic) and business providers (Gamma, Verizon) in addition to a range of smaller ISPs (90% of our members are SMEs)
- ISPA UK is the voice of the UK Internet industry to policy makers, the media and the public.
- For a full list of members or other information about ISPA, please visit our website on www.ispa.org.ukor follow us on Twitter @ISPAUK.
