As well as news from INCA itself we are keen to include relevant news items from INCA members. Please send relevant items of news, ideally including a photo where relevant, to news@inca.coop. We'll publish news from members that we feel is of interest.
INCA welcomes Public Accounts Committee report, but argues for greater recognition of the work of independent providers around the country
While the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has raised valid concerns about the Governments’ plans to ensure the very hardest to reach areas are not being left behind by the larger market players, INCA has pointed out that its members continue to build new digital infrastructure in areas left behind by BT Openreach and Virgin Media.
At November's Annual General Meeting two new people were elected to INCA's board.
Ros Singleton (pictured speaking at the 2021 INCA Conference) brings a wealth of experience to the role, as a CEO, a board chair, a non-executive director, advisor and investor with over 30 years of experience in the technology sector. She is the CEO of Spring Fibre, an FTTH start up and INCA Member organisation, and the Chair of the UK5G Advisory Board providing advice to and working closely with DCMS.
At our sell-out Awards Dinner held on the evening of November 3 2021 as part of our annual conference, the following six award winners were announced.
If 2021 was about anything in there AltNet sector, it was about scaling up to be able to deploy faster and grow market share. This award was designed to recognise the standout AltNet in terms of how they dealt with the challenges and opportunities that come with rapid scaling. The winner is Community Fibre, the London-based AltNet doing so much to deliver gigabit connectivity across the capital.
After much deliberation, our eminent independent panel of judges has agreed a shortlist.
Having spent many hours painstakingly assessing the thirty or so submissions that we received this year, they have produced a list of finalists.
This elite group of shortlisted candidates must now wait until the INCA Awards Dinner - held on the evening of November 3rd as part of our 2021 Conference – to learn which of them will be selected to take home one of the prestigious 'INCA Golds' awards. The shortlisted candidates are, in alphabetical order:
INCA is not surprised but is still disappointed with Ofcom’s decision today (Sept 30 2021). Our members are committed to meeting and surpassing the government’s targets for gigabit capable networks - so much so that £14bn of new investment has been brought into the sector to support this aim. Ofcom’s decision today puts that at risk and operators will now be seriously considering what steps to take next.
Over 2.5m homes and businesses in the UK can now connect to an independent fibre broadband network, according to new figures published today (7 June 2021). This represents over 110 per cent year-on-year growth and confirms the major contribution the ‘altnets’ are making to the Government's target for delivering national coverage of gigabit capable broadband.
Gigabit Britain will only be built with the active involvement of the independent sector. Our forthcoming report, due next month, on the state of the sector will set out more about the level of market share that the 'altnets' are likely to take over the next few years, but it's clear that the race is on. For homes and businesses and public sector services to benefit from a competitive national broadband infrastructure, the scale and combined capabilities of the UK’s altnets – and the growing capital invested in them and their fast-expanding fibre and wireless networks – is critical.
Altnet investment is desperately needed to hit government connectivity targets, yet the regulator’s market review statement dismissed the sector's concerns. Deployment of ‘full-fibre’ broadband could be delayed if independent providers and their investors believe that the regulator is not willing to listen to their concerns.
Following the recent apppointment of CityFibre's Head of Regulatory Affairs Alex Blowers to the role of Chair of INCA's Board, we're now pleased to publish this video interview with Alex, enabling him to set out what he sees as some of the key issues and priorities as we slowly begin to emerge from the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
Each year INCA commissions Point Topic to survey the independent operators to assess investment, actual and planned network coverage, and important challenges the sector faces. As private investment by independent providers has steadily increased, with an estimated £8.8 billion being pumped into the independent gigabit broadband sector up to 2025, the focus of this year’s survey will be on how this investment will result in the scaling up of deployments and operations.
Indeed, Scaling Up is a key theme for much of our work this year, and our event programme is designed to explore multiple facets around the scaling-up agenda.
