Oxfordshire: Gigaclear CEO wins international award for rural fibre broadband

Matthew Hare, chief executive of Gigaclear, the leading supplier of full-fibre broadband to rural locations in the UK, is the first British industry professional to receive the prominent Individual Award from the Fibre to the Home (FTTH) Council Europe. He received the award at the 15^th annual FTTH Conference in Valencia, Spain.

Hare was presented the award in recognition of his outstanding efforts in accelerating the adoption of full fibre broadband across rural, hard to reach communities in Britain. He joins the list of previous winners which include industry legend, Charles Kao, who pioneered the development and use of fibre optics in telecommunications.

The FTTH Council Europe Individual Award honours an individual for their efforts in delivering outstanding connectivity and championing the roll-out of FTTH. This award celebrates Hare’s drive and willingness to challenge not only the Government, but also the wider industry in raising the standard of the UK’s digital infrastructure.

President of the FTTH Council Europe Ronan Kelly commented: “Matthew was chosen to receive this award because of his personal vision and his relentless ambition to cover rural Britain with Fibre to the Home broadband. He acted as a change agent, believing in a full fibre future in a country with very little full fibre infrastructure.”

Hare commented: “It is an honour to be recognised by such an influential industry body. Winning this award is testament to the work we have been doing to tackle rural isolation, by bringing ultrafast, full fibre broadband to those who have previously been forgotten by the big players. However, there is still a lot more we hope to achieve with our full fibre networks. We have just connected our 15,000^th customer and during 2018, we will persist with our vision of a copper switch off. We continue to believe that the UK digital economy must be driven by a future proof fibre network.”

Gigaclear is currently in a phase of substantial growth, now connecting over 60,000 homes and businesses across rural Britain. In addition, it has won a number of contracts to deliver broadband networks to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across Berkshire, Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Northamptonshire through the Government-backed Broadband Delivery UK programme.