Shortlisted at the INCA Gold Awards 2019

We are delighted to have been shortlisted for two INCA Gold Awards for our collaborative work with Dorset Council and their Superfast Dorset initiative:

• Best Community Project for Cripplestyle • Best Rural Impact for Cheselbourne

INCA (Independent Networks Co-operative Association) supports the development of sustainable independent networks that advance the economic and social development of the communities they serve, and their Gold Awards celebrate the best in innovation and achievement in the sector. Our nominations reflect our achievements in bringing ultrafast, future-proof Full Fibre Broadband to the most rural of areas.

Cripplestyle and Cheselbourne are two of our very successful Community Schemes, which are designed to bring gigabit broadband to rural communities that suffer from poor connectivity.

In Cheselbourne, we initially delivered Full Fibre Broadband to Cheselbourne Village School, and then continued to connect many more homes in the village.

Speaking about the benefits of their new ultrafast connection, Mary See, Headteacher at Cheselbourne Village School, said:

“Having new super-fast broadband reach our school has revolutionised the way we work. The much faster and reliable access to the web has allowed staff to work more efficiently; while the children, although still geographically remote, are no longer technologically isolated and will have the same opportunities as their urban peers in preparing for a more technological future.”

Cripplestyle, meanwhile, suffered from speeds of less than 1Mb/s before our scheme. We had more than 80% take-up for our Full Fibre Broadband, and the village now benefits from gigabit speeds. The scheme illustrates the success of bringing Full Fibre Broadband to a very rural area.

Dorset Council supports our aim to get Dorset connected with ultrafast internet, and we are proud to have partnered with them on these projects. We also support their Dorset Digital Champions initiative, which aims to help people to make the most of their digital connection.

The winners of the INCA Gold Awards 2019 will be announced at a special ceremony at the INCA Conference in Manchester, on October 17.