ISPA bigwig resigns over support for UKIF

Trade group rift claims casualty

By Tim Richardson, 5th November 2004

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A senior member of the UK's leading internet trade body resigned today after losing the confidence of fellow board members.

Stephen Dyer, chairman of Mailbox Internet Ltd and until today one of ten directors on the board of the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA), said he was forced out of the job because of his support for rival trade group UKIF.

UKIF (UK Internet Federation) first surfaced in August to lobby against wholesale broadband price hikes which it claimed could lead to dozens of smaller ISPs going bust. However, the emergence of UKIF caused friction with ISPA and now it appears that Mr Dyer has become a casualty of that rift.

In a personal statement Dyer wrote: "Whilst being an ISPA Council member, during the last few months I have supported the UKIF initiative to defend members of ISPA, the wider industry and my own company from a serious threat due to new developments in the structure of BT pricing and OFCOM regulation in relation to Broadband.

"However in practice the perception of UKIF as a possible competitor to ISPA has created distrust on the ISPA Council to the extent that they today have voted that I should cease to be a director.

"Faced with this distrust, and mindful of the damage that ISPA might suffer in any prolonged and divisive EGM process, I have today tendered my resignation from the ISPA Council."

A spokesman for ISP confirmed that the ISPA's governing body met today and that Dyer had resigned. ®