INCA Launch UK Superfast Broadband Notspot Registration Scheme

The Independent Networks Cooperative Association, which works to support altnet ISPs and the development of Next Generation Access networks around the United Kingdom, has launched a new registration scheme to identify Superfast Broadband “Notspots“. It wouldn’t be the first.

The noble aim of INCA’s new Notspot Registration Scheme is to “uncover areas of unserved [superfast broadband] demand and share the information (with permission) with [our] members keen to serve those areas.”

It’s noted that the commercial models for many of the altnet schemes that INCA support, such as the one employed by Gigaclear’s fibre optic (FTTH/P) deployments, are based on a certain percentage of the local population signing up for a service before the network is built (i.e. demand driven). As a result anything that can help to show the demand for a service in a particular area is very useful, although turning initial expressions of interest into paying customers can be a challenge.

However, surveys like the one above have been tried many times before, usually at a more specific local level by communities and related projects. The Government’s own Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme also required many councils to introduce demand surveys, although the impact of the data they collected remains questionable (here).

But at the end of the day, if you do live in a “superfast broadband notspot“, then anything that gives you and your community the opportunity to express concern about Internet performance in your area should be embraced. We just hope that people haven’t become so tired of filling them in, only to see precious little change, that they no longer wish to bother anymore.