Queen’s Birthday Honours for CEO of Rural FTTP ISP Gigaclear

The CEO and Founder of rural fibre optic (FTTP/H) broadband ISP Gigaclear, Matthew Hare, has today been named in the annual Queen’s Birthday Honours (2018) and has thus received an ‘Officer of the Order of the British Empire’ (OBE) for his services to internet provision in the UK.

The honours system generally recognises people who have made achievements in public life and or committed themselves to serving and benefiting Britain, such as by helping to make the lives of other people or communities better. Proposed awards are chosen by the honours committee and their decisions go to the Prime Minister and then to the Queen, who awards the honour.

Gigaclear has been around as a commercial ISP since 2010 and they’ve since made quite the name for themselves by successfully deploying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based multi-Gigabit capable “full fibre” broadband networks to some of the United Kingdom’s most challenging rural communities.

Today the operator’s network reaches 65,000+ premises across various counties in England and they hope to cover over 300,000 premises by 2021.

Matthew Hare said:

“I am delighted to be recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. This acknowledgement is not only testament to the work Gigaclear has accomplished, but a clear validation of our vision of a full fibre future for Britain’s rural population.

We are constantly innovating and searching for new ways to accelerate the deployment of our ultrafast networks. We view every hurdle as motivation to reach and connect more digitally isolated communities.

I’d like to thank the rural communities who have fought for better broadband, local and central Government for their support, and, of course, the Gigaclear team, of whom I am very proud, for sharing my vision. I am delighted to receive an award for something that I am truly passionate about.”

NOTE: Matthew is pictured top left (taken while opening a new office in 2017).