An East Midlands full-fibre internet service provider has formed a new consortium alongside four other ISPs from across the UK to pressure their industry to do more to help hard-pressed families pay for their broadband.
Gigabit Networks has signed up as a founder member of the Rebel Alliance, which is calling for industry-wide action to improve service levels and lower costs to avoid widening the country’s digital divide during the current cost-of-living crisis.
Gigabit Networks, which supplies full-fibre 1Gbps internet to home and businesses in Derby, has lined up alongside Triangle Networks, Air Broadband, HighNet and Trunk Networks, who are demanding financial support for people living in social housing and those struggling with essential household bills by addressing service levels and standards across the whole industry.
It also says that the country’s internet supplier industry should be driven by the needs of end-users, rather than by the competition between suppliers.
The formation of the Rebel Alliance follows a slew of price increases for broadband at the start of April, with a number of big-name ISPs increasing prices for some customers by as much as 9.3%.
This increase came in the wake of rising food, energy, and fuel costs and figures from comms watchdog Ofcom, which found that although more than four million UK households are currently eligible for an average of a £144-a-year saving through internet firms’ social tariffs, only a small fraction have taken them up.
This is often because while some major internet service providers do offer tariffs for low incomes – and many do not – they are not generally advertised within their marketing materials and do not appear in price comparison site searches.
The Rebel Alliance says social tariffs should be better advertised and is also calling on the infrastructure providers who lay fibre cabling to demonstrate leadership and empathy, by making a greater financial contribution towards ensuring that affordable social internet pricing is made available to as many people as possible.
David Yates, CEO of Gigabit Networks, which is based in Uttoxeter Old Road, said: “The ability to connect to the Internet is no longer a luxury but a necessity, simply because so many essential services, including applying for Universal Credit itself, take place online.
“Despite this, it seems like our industry still views being able to access fast and reliable internet as a consumer choice, with the quality of the internet you receive connected to your willingness and ability to pay.
“At a time of rising household costs across the board, we in the Rebel Alliance think that this is totally unacceptable and it is incumbent on the entire industry, which includes the infrastructure firms, to work together to increase internet affordability and make social tariffs readily available across the board to those who are eligible for them.”
All of the Rebel Alliance members offer Full-Fibre broadband services to premises (FFTP) in support of industry aims to roll out fibre connections to the whole of the UK by 2030.
David added: “Full-Fibre broadband Internet access is key to the future of this country but there is a very real prospect of having thousands of miles’ worth of brand-new fibre optic cabling running underground past the doorsteps of households who can’t afford to actually access it.
“We are already seeing it in the communities that we serve, where gigabit Internet, which would open up life-changing opportunities for people to work and study, is ready and waiting, but is too expensive for social housing residents and associations.
“UK infrastructure companies have done a great job of cabling, but they aren’t always thinking of the end-user experience. The Rebel Alliance is here to remind them that it’s the customers’ needs we are ultimately serving and that everybody has a right to fair and equitable access to a quality internet connection.”
