Norfolk UK Wireless Broadband ISP WiSpire Sold to InTouch Systems

The rate of consolidation among UK fixed wireless broadband ISPs has picked up pace again after InTouch Systems, which operates a network across Norfolk and Suffolk via ITSwisp, announced that it had acquired wireless provider WiSpire that operates in the same region.

WiSpire has tended to offer faster broadband packages than ITSwisp and they’re also better known, not least after becoming a more established name through being one of the first ISPs to pioneer the approach of deploying wireless infrastructure on top of churches in order to serve rural communities. Earlier this year the Government moved to foster this sort of approach across the UK (here).

Meanwhile the South Norfolk Council has recently signed a new deal with InTouch Systems (here), which aims to deploy a new 10Mbps+ capable wireless network across parts of the area that won’t benefit from the existing Better Broadband for Norfolk (BBfN) project with BT (Openreach). Suffice to say that acquiring WiSpire will help in delivering on their contract commitment.

Steve Temple, Director of InTouch Systems, said (EDP24):

“Churches are perfectly situated to benefit people in rural communities, like in South Norfolk. The Diocese of Norwich has been very supportive of expanding the network and over the next 12 to 24 months we will be adding another 11 churches. Broadband drives everything these days. If you build a business park you need good connections or no one will come.”

Richard Butler, CEO for the Diocese of Norwich, said:

“We are keen to see that growth accelerate and more church towers be used to deliver such a vital service to the communities we serve, and InTouch Systems have significant expertise in rural broadband provision.”

Hopefully InTouch will also find a way to upgrade their service in order to offer faster speeds than are currently available because these days 10Mbps+ is a fairly low bar to be setting. The top ITSwisp package for residential users currently costs £31.99 for an unlimited 8Mbps download service (1Mbps upload) and free installation, which is better than sub-2Mbps for some communities but still feels a bit like going back in time over a decade to when ADSLMax was still a big thing.