21581 - SCTE Broadband August2022 COMPLETE v1

42 Vol. 44 No. 3 - September 2022 Issue As part of a new initiative, our industry friends and partners INCA will be sharing with us the work they are doing and the projects they have coming up on a regular basis, not least the 2022 INCA Awards in Liverpool later this year Update from INCA Many of you will be well aware that the Independent Networks Cooperative Association (INCA) was founded in 2010 with the express aim of fostering a new approach to digital infrastructure, focusing on full fibre (FTTP) and high-quality wireless broadband. The company is chaired by Alex Blowers of CityFibre and operated by a small executive team lead by the organisation’s CEO and Malcolm Corbett. The association plays a pivotal role in convening the sector, bringing the many key players together to push for the policy and regulatory support needed to maintain a healthy, competitive market and to work on projects of common interest to the altnets and consumers. INCA argued that BT’s approach of building a hybrid copper/ fibre network (FTTC) was not future-proofed and would run out of steam in a few years. In 2016 INCA published the seminal report ‘Building Gigabit Britain’ that laid out these arguments alongside policy recommendations to support a growing network of new competitive providers who were building new full fibre networks unencumbered by legacy technologies and thinking. That report landed on the new minister’s desk, and Matt Hancock decided to implement INCA’s recommendations through the Government’s Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review. As a result of investment and years of hard work from those involved, the altnet industry continues to grow. FTIR coupled with Ofcom’s ‘Digital Communications Review’ set the policy and regulatory framework that has been crucial for unlocking the flood of investment that has surged into the competitive sector. The total number of live connections provided by altnets rose above 1 million for the first time in 2022, as well as 5.5 million homes and businesses being able to connect to an independent fibre broadband network. Investors have committed in excess of £17.5bn to the sector since 2017. This is substantially more investment in aggregate than BT is channeling into full fibre through Openreach, or Virgin Media is currently spending upgrading and expanding the cable network. By INCA from the industry