AltNets Pickup Wins at UK WISPAs 2023 and Comms National Awards

A couple of separate industry award events have just recently been held – the UKWISPA Awards 2023 and Comms National Awards – both of which saw various UK alternative broadband network builders and ISPs picking up wins across various different categories.

We’ll begin with UK Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, which holds an annual event to celebrate the best wireless internet providers across the sector, even though quite a lot of this year’s winners have increasingly started to focus on FTTP instead of wireless builds. Sadly, the organisation’s award’s page reveals nothing about how the awards themselves are chosen and judged (i.e. take with a pinch of salt).

UKWISPA Awards 2023 – Winners

Best Community Engagement
Wildanet

Rural Hero
Mike Hicks – CFWN

Best Hybrid Fibre/Wireless, sponsored by Cambium Networks
Alncom

Best Customer Experience, sponsored by Calix
Wildanet

Innovation
WISDM by Wireless Coverage

Gigabit Wireless Project
GigaAir

Outstanding Team Member
Thomas Richardson – Village Networks

Next we have the Comms National Awards, which each year works to recognise the stand-out organisations, technologies, leaders and innovations in the communications and ICT communities. The winners are selected by a team of nine judges from the wider industry and associated sectors.

The event covers a ridiculous number of categories (reflecting the complexity of the sector and its many different services), which makes it hard to see how such a small judging team could be expected to confidently and accurately appraise so many options. But the standouts for us were CityFibre winning the ‘Best Network’ crown and MS3 being named as the ‘Best AltNet’. Each category lists both the winner and then the runner-up.

Comms National Awards 2023 – Winners

Best Enterprise UC Customer Solution

Winner: Opus Technology
Runner Up: European Telecom Solutions

Best SME UC Customer Solution

Start Communications
Uplands Mobile Ltd

Best Enterprise Mobile/IoT Customer Solution

FluidOne
Uplands Mobile Ltd

Best SME Mobile/IoT Customer Solution

Spitfire Network Services
Uplands Mobile Ltd

Best Enterprise Vertical Market Customer Solution

Global 4 Communications Ltd
SCG Together

Best SME Vertical Market Customer Solution

Windsor Telecom
Future Voice & Data

Best Enterprise Managed Service Customer Solution

Uplands Mobile Ltd
ADP Assured Data Protection

Best SME Managed Service Customer Solution

KubeNet
Cloud Geeks Ltd

Best Enterprise Contact Centre Customer Solution

Elite Group
Opus Technology

Best SME Contact Centre Customer Solution

Avoira
SoConnect Ltd

Best Call Management Solution

Tollring
Oak Innovation

Best Billing Solution

Inform Billing
PRD Technologies

Best ICT Distributor

Nuvias UC
ProVu Communications Ltd

Best UCaaS Vendor

Voip Unlimited
Intermedia Cloud Communications

Best Network

CityFibre
Talk Talk Wholesale Solutions

Best Altnet

MS3 Networks
CityFibre

Best Wholesale Service Provider (up to £10m) – Fixed/Mobile/Cloud

MS3 Networks
Voiceflex Ltd

Best Wholesale Service Provider (above £10m) – Fixed/Mobile/Cloud

Giacom
Jola

Business Transformation Award

Global 4 Communications Ltd
FourNet

Reseller Deal of the Year

UK Connect
SCG Together

Best Partner Programme (up to £10m)

Pangea
Tollring

Best Partner Programme (above £10m)

Jola
BT Wholesale Services

Best Channel Business Service – Maintenance/Finance/Marketing etc

Support to Win
Blabbermouth

Best Channel Portal

Jola
Talk Talk Wholesale Solutions

Best Reseller Innovation Award

Fournet
Focus Group

Best Supplier Innovation Award

PromptVoice
Jola

Diversity Award

BT Wholesale Services
Jola

Sustainability Award

TalkTalk
Cfone Communications