OBE for Gigaclear Boss

Matthew Hare, Founder and Chief Executive of Gigaclear, a leading rural full fibre broadband provider, has received an OBE in this year’s Birthday Honours List, for his services to Broadband Provision in the UK.

Matthew has pioneered the construction and adoption of full fibre broadband in hundreds of rural communities in Britain. Eight years on, Gigaclear is delivering speeds of 1,000Mbps (1Gbps) to over 65,000 rural homes and businesses.

Matthew said: “I am delighted to be recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. This acknowledgement is not only testament to the work Gigaclear has accomplished, but a clear validation of our vision of a full fibre future for Britain’s rural population."

Matthew founded Gigaclear after experiencing first-hand the struggle rural homes and businesses faced in accessing fast, reliable internet connections. The antique copper-based networks prevalent across the country and the lack of relevant investment by other network providers meant that rural communities ability to access the internet severely lagged their urban counterparts. Matthew saw the opportunity to use state-of-the-art full fibre network technologies, where distance has no impact on performance, to deliver brilliant broadband to rural homes and businesses. 

Matthew added: “I hear daily the transformation that full fibre ultrafast internet access has on the lives of those living and working in the rural communities where we have delivered our services. A lack of high quality connectivity not only severely hinders local businesses and the day-to-day lives of residents, but it also has a detrimental impact on the growth of the entire UK economy. That’s why we believe that every rural property in the UK should be able to enjoy a full fibre connection by 2030.”

The company is in a phase of substantial growth having just connected it’s 16,000^th customer and plans to serve over 300,000 properties by 2021. Its innovative approach has been instrumental in achieving widespread recognition, such as winning ‘Best Rural Broadband Provider’ at the Internet Service Providers Association Awards in 2017.