ISPA UK Unveils the Winners of their 2016 ISP Internet Industry Awards

It’s that time of the year again. The Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) has revealed the winners of their 18th annual 2016 Internet industry awards, which among other things saw London wireless ISP Relish pick-up the winning spot for “Best Consumer Broadband” and Hyperoptic secure the “Best Superfast Broadband” gong.

Once again this year’s event, which was held at The Brewery in the City of London, introduced several self-explanatory new categories: Best Cloud Product, Best Marketing Campaign and Best CPE Hardware (the latter reference to CPE reflects customer devices, such as broadband routers and modems).

However, before listing the winners, we should point out that Relish wasn’t actually named in the original May 2016 shortlist for “Best Consumer Broadband” (here) and indeed back then that category was also called “Best Consumer Fixed Broadband” (i.e. fixed line, not wireless). Somewhere in this world, right now, a cross-eyed parrot is probably looking off into the middle distance.

At this point you might well ask, how did Relish win? The answer is because Keycom was originally short-listed for the category and last year they were acquired by UKB Networks (here), which also operates Relish. Funnily enough Keycom is still very much a live ISP and brand, but officially it now exists under Relish Networks Plc, even though Relish itself is a fairly different provider with a different focus.. hay ho, on we go.

Elsewhere it’s worth highlighting that Apple was named as this year’s Internet Hero for attempting to defend the fundamental principles of encryption and customer privacy, not least against the UK government’s proposed Internet snooping legislation. On the flip side Mossack Fonseca Panama picked up the Internet Villain gong for their massive lapse in cyber security and leaking of confidential financial data.

Nicholas Lansman, ISPA Secretary General, said:

“A big congratulations to all the winners at the 18th ISPA Awards winners. A huge range of companies won this year, showing the continued diversity, innovation and competitiveness of the UK Internet industry in what has been an eventful year for the sector. The Hero and Villain Awards winners also showed industry concerns with encryption and how essential cyber security has become.”

The full list of winners can be found below, although we should give a special mention to the other big consumer ISP winner of the night, Wessex Internet, which picked up the award for Best Wireless provider and deservedly so. Elsewhere this is the 4th year running that Hyperoptic has won the Best Superfast category, but that’s hardly surprising with their 1Gbps FTTB/P network.

2016 ISPA UK Award Winners

Internet Hero: Apple

For defending the fundamental principles of encryption and customer privacy.

Internet Villain: Mossack Fonseca Panama

For demonstrating poor cyber security practices.

Best Superfast Broadband: Hyperoptic

Hyperoptic’s incredible expansion has seem them double their footprint, but without compromising on top quality customer service or the speeds that have made them famous.

Best Consumer Broadband: Relish

Relish offers a great and transparent service and the judges were impressed with their focus on a customer base often ignored by other providers.

Best Business Broadband: Venus

Venus’ dark fibre offering and 10 Gbps speeds give businesses the performance and Internet they need now and in the future.

Best Wireless: Wessex Internet

Wessex provide rural communities with high quality superfast speeds, plus flexible contracts and great reliability that shows how wireless networks have an essential role to play in delivering connectivity.

Best Shared Hosting: Heart Internet

The sheer range of apps and products offered by Heart, plus their reliability, cyber security and support offered to small businesses made them the clear winner.

Best Dedicated Hosting: Memset

Memset’s response times, technical support options and resilience impressed the judges, as did having IPv6 as standard and their commitment to being carbon neutral.

Best VoIP: Telappliant

As Voice over Internet technology has evolved, the judges were particularly impressed with Telappliant’s flexible contracts, range of features and innovative payment plans.

Best Cloud Product: Storm Internet

Storm Internet clearly demonstrated how cloud technology can deliver a real step-change for business customers and save money, whilst demonstrating a high degree of technical excellence.

Best Marketing Campaign: Vodafone: Terry the Turkey

Terry the Turkey was a memorable addition to the Christmas TV schedules and the judges liked how a telecoms company took on the big retail giants at Christmas ads and generated a real buzz.

* Plusnet received a commendation for running a truly national campaign that was memorable and reinforced the Yorkshire roots of the company.

Best Consumer Customer Service: Wifinity

Wifinity deliver great customer service to those in remote and challenging areas, and the judges were impressed with their empowered staff, flexible contracts and no quibble refund policy.

Best Business Customer Service: Catalyst2

A consistent and personal service sees Caltalyst2 achieve impressive customer satisfaction scores and customer referrals.

Best CPE Hardware: Fritz!Box 7490 Router

The Fritz box can be used for a wide range of applications and the feature rich router, plus the accompanying app that puts users in control saw them win in this new category.

Safety Award: UK Safer Internet Centre

The UK Safer Internet Centre run Safer Internet Day goes from strength to strength with amazing reach and a growing of supporters from all walks of life.

* Wise kids were also commended for their impressive scheme which helps schools, youth workers and more teach kids how to use the internet safely.

Security Award: F-Secure

F-Secure products collectively protect millions of customers in partnerships with UK ISPs, giving total protection across the most popular platforms.

Best Tech Law Firm: Kemp Little

Kemp Little’s innovation in delivering legal services and their willingness to share knowledge of emerging tech and telco issues through contributions to online legal portals, conferences and training programmes made them the winner.

For more information:
http://www.ispaawards.org.uk