ISPA Unveil Finalists for the 2022 UK ISP Internet Industry Awards

The UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) has published a shortlist of finalists for their 2022 annual industry awards, which sees various broadband ISPs being nominanted across several categories. Once again, Exa Networks received the highest number of nominations (4), with CommunityFibre, Giganet, KCOM and Ogi also doing well.

Just to recap. The winners of last year’s event were unveiled back in November 2021 (here), which among other things saw B4RN walk away with the award for “Best Rural ISP“, while CommunityFibre scooped both the “Best Consumer ISP” and “Best Ultrafast ISP” awards. Meanwhile, Helen Milner (OBE) of the Good Things Foundation was named “Internet Hero” for the group’s efforts to tackle digital inclusion.

However, the award categories have been revised for this year’s event, which is intended to help reflect the changing market of alternative networks. For example, different awards will now be given to ISPs or infrastructure operators with more than 100,000 customers or premises passed, and also for those with fewer than 100,000 customers or premises passed.

The announcement about all this actually seems to have been published on the ISPA’s website last week, but for some reason we didn’t get the press release and nobody else seems to have covered it either. But better late than never, we hope.

ISPA Chair, Steve Leighton, said:

“This year’s ISPA Awards shortlist is an excellent reflection of the vibrant and exciting broadband sector. From household names, new entrants and scale ups, to infrastructure builders, vendors and those serving consumers and business, ISPA is pleased to be showcasing the achievements made in the past twelve months that is seeing fibre deployment accelerated, data usage and speeds increased, and more support than ever being offered to customers struggling with the cost of living. I look forward to seeing the winners unveiled in November.”

As usual, the shortlist for the ‘Internet Hero‘ and ‘Internet Villain‘ (returning after a long absence) awards will be unveiled closer to the ceremony, and once again the ISPA will be crowdsourcing suggestions from the public in the coming months. The Awards’ event itself will take place on the 24th November 2022 at the Landmark Hotel in London.

2022 ISPAs Award Shortlist

Best Consumer ISP 100K+
Hyperoptic
KCOM
NOW Broadband
Sky Broadband
TalkTalk Group

Best Consumer ISP 100K-
Air Broadband
Brsk
Community Fibre
Giganet
Swish Fibre
YouFibre

Best Infrastructure 100K+
Airband Community Internet
CityFibre
G.Network
ITS Technology Group
KCOM
Netomnia
Openreach

Best Infrastructure 100K-
Brsk
Ogi
toob

Best Business ISP
Cerberus Networks
Community Fibre
Giganet
G.Network
Ogi
RM

Best Rural ISP
Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN)
Cerberus Networks
Giganet
Ogi
Wildanet

Best VoIP
Dial 9 Communications
Enreach UK
Exa Networks
Voipfone
WebMate

Best Cyber Security
Exa Networks
RM
Talk Straight / Schools Broadband

Best Customer Innovation
Community Fibre
Exa Networks
KCOM
Trenches Law
WeLink

Best Hosted Service
Catalyst2
Exa Networks
Krystal Hosting
Storm Internet
WebMate

Digital Inclusion Award
Deadline for entries is 24th September 2022

Internet Hero/Villain
Public can send their suggestions to awards@ispa.org.uk

Outstanding Achievement Award
To be announced at the awards ceremony