UK ISP Airband Wins 2025 World Communication Award for Wireless Broadband
Broadband provider Airband, which has deployed both Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) based networks to cover various rural parts of Wales and South West England, last night won the ‘Connected Communities Award’ for their gigabit wireless service at the World Communication Awards 2025.
The award reflects Airband’s recent move to embrace evolving millimetre wave (mmWave) solutions in the 60GHz band, which enabled them to offer a “hyperfast 1Gbps wireless broadband” product to rural homes covered by the newly upgraded network, such as in parts of Shropshire and Wrexham (here).
The provider has previously stated that their network spans “more than 440,000 premises in over 200 communities across 7 counties“ (here), which we were told breaks down as being 175,000 premises via “fibre” (FTTP) and 265,000 premises via wireless (FWA) – all Ready for Service. The provider also expects to end 2025 with 30,000 customers.
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However, today’s announcement states that Airband’s array of new network points means that “over 200,000 properties can now access faster broadband speeds“, which we assume forms part of their 265,000 total for FWA coverage.
Kash Rahman, CEO of Airband, said:
“As a business specialising in connecting communities, we know that fibre isn’t always the answer and have focused on developing our gigabit capable range of products which provide hyper-fast broadband access no matter where you live. Connecting communities is at the heart of everything we do, so it’s incredibly meaningful to be recognised on a global stage for the impact we’re making.
Winning the World Communication Award is a big deal for Airband because it’s one of the most respected global awards in the telecoms and connectivity industry. It recognises innovation, impact, and excellence on an international stage. For Airband, it validates the quality of our gigabit capable FWA technology, our commitment to bridging the digital divide, and our success compared to major global players. It’s a truly special award because it’s judged by industry experts, highly competitive, and only given to organisations delivering standout achievements in communications worldwide.”
The World Communication Awards are judged by a large, independent panel of experts drawn from across the global telecoms’ ecosystem.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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So the award is for the technology they are using? No account taken of customer service which ispreview reviewers report as being dire.
Despite the quality of the network 30,000 customers on a 440,000‑premise network is a mere 6.8% take‑up, leaving the viability of Airband’s business questionable. Airband surely needs to get 100,000+ customers before abrdn loses patience and stops funding.
I don’t think they have interviewed customers in my area, lots have switched back to copper cable broadband as service and reliability has been awful they would rather have a reliable 1mb than a sporadic fast connection that can be down for days.
Really? After 18 months of hell andover 3 months of failing to send an engineer out to replace a failed receiver, I cancelled with Airband. They sent an engineer out to uninstall the kit within 10 days! Not over impressed. It’s all sweetness and light until they hit a problem, then ypu are suddenly on your own. I have replaced them with a £15 unlimited data SIM and a £20 4g router. All good, it’s our own kit and money saved each month