First-ever Broadband Excellence Awards to take place

Author: Simon Rowley

The best of the best in the broadband sector will be celebrated at the first-ever Broadband Excellence Awards, which have been launched by the World Broadband Association (WBBA). The awards will celebrate the achievements of the industry leaders and innovators who are building and operating the networks that connect all our worlds.

“The Broadband Excellence Awards will set a new standard of excellence across the industry,” says WBBA Director General, Martin Creamer. “We have been delighted with the quality of entries submitted so far, and we look forward to being able to reveal our inaugural award winners later this year.”

The deadline for entries for the five award categories has been pushed back to 15 August to ensure even more companies can enter. Organisations of all sizes and types are welcome to enter multiple categories, but can only enter only one solution per category. The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held in Paris, France on 8 October 2024, which will take place alongside this year’s Network X event.

There are five categories in the Broadband Excellence Awards. The Outstanding Contribution to Network Excellence category will recognise achievements in network infrastructure that have demonstrated substantial revenue generation, reduction to the costs of operating a networking, and improvements in the key areas of network accessibility, user experience, and energy efficiency.

The Excellence in Broadband Application category highlights the best practices of cooperation seen between players across the ecosystem. It celebrates those driving digital transformation and creating services in ‘smart’ sectors such as cities, education, healthcare, hotels, homes, and Industry IoT (IIoT).

The categories also include the Network Innovation Excellence towards realisation of Future Networks and Services, which recognises the breakthrough technologies associated with future networks, including network security, application and security, alongside concepts such as cloud and network convergence, AI for networks, and deterministic networks.

Of the final two categories, Product and Solution Excellence will award developments within equipment, devices, services and application solutions. Gigacity Excellence is focused on municipalities that have successfully invested to become Gigacities and promoted broadband excellence. This category will be assessed against the WBBA’s published criteria for Gigacities.

Meticulously chosen for their market knowledge, the judging panel for the Awards includes three representatives of research firm OMDIA and is led by Michael Philpott, a Principal Analyst at the company. The shortlist of nominees will be announced Monday 9 September.

For full details on entry information and submission guidelines, click here.