The Co-operative Phone and Broadband Wins Social Enterprise Award

The Chipping Norton-based Co-operative Phone and Broadband (The Phone Co-op) ISP has won the “Best Consumer Facing Social Enterprise” accolade at the annual UK Social Enterprise Awards, which were actually held at the end of last year (we have been a bit slow to notice).

The Phone Co-op is the United Kingdom’s only customer-owned and democratically run telecoms and Internet service provider, which also means that any profits they make can be shared with members (see their 2015 profit share). The provider has around 30,000 customers and continues to grow.

The Phone Co-op was also short-listed for the “Best UK Social Enterprise of the Year” award, but unfortunately they didn’t win that one (Vi-Ability secured it).

Peter Holbrook, Social Enterprise UK’s CEO, said:

“Social enterprises are needed more than ever to tackle the social and environmental problems facing Britain. Congratulations to The Phone Co-op – the competition was fierce.

Every year the Awards are a celebration of the social enterprise sector, but this year was truly remarkable. It was the largest Awards we’ve hosted to date with more than 400 guests and a wonderful evening for the UK’s social enterprise business community.”

Apparently the judges liked how the The Phone Co-op engaged with their customers and the personal UK-based support that was provided, which managed to avoid putting lots of obstacles between the end user and being able to speak with an actual human.