Cuckoo Internet Ltd.
Script error: No such module "Draft topics".
Script error: No such module "AfC topic".
| Cuckoo | |
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | Internet |
| Founded 📆 | 2020 in London, United Kingdom |
| Founder 👔 |
|
| Headquarters 🏙️ | London, UK |
Area served 🗺️ | |
| Services | Fibre-optic broadband |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 40 |
| 🌐 Website | https://www.cuckoo.co/ |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Cuckoo Internet Ltd, trading as Cuckoo, (/ˈkʊkuː/), is an internet service provider (ISP) based in the United Kingdom. The firm positions itself as a challenger to the “big four” UK broadband companies (BT, Sky, Virgin and TalkTalk) and claims to save the average customer £130 on their broadband at double the average speed.[1][2]
History[edit]
Cuckoo was founded by Alexander Fitzgerald, Tommy Toner and Daniel McClure in February 2020.[3]
The company raised an initial £470,000 in seed funding, and launched with a single deal and one-month rolling contract at £29.99 per month.[4]
In April 2021 Cuckoo secured £4.3m in investment, with investors including RTP Global and JamJar Investments, as well as former executives of Monzo and Stripe.[5] Following the funding round, the company announced plans to double its workforce and to improve its technology platform to attract more customers.[6]
That month the company also claimed to have grown 250% that year.[7]
In October 2021 Cuckoo launched their first Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) on a monthly rolling contract, claiming to be the first ISP to offer full fibre on a monthly rolling contract, although this claim has been disputed.[8]
In April 2022 Cuckoo launched a new “same day” service that it claimed could get customers “anywhere” in the UK online within 24 hours. The service involves sending customers a temporary 4G-based mobile dongle to get them online on the same day as their order, compared to what Cuckoo claims is the standard 14-day turnaround time to switch providers.[9] Critics highlighted the additional costs of the dongle, and that customers will already likely have access to a smartphone hotspot.[10]
Activism[edit]
Known as ‘The Cuckoo Compass’, Cuckoo invests 1% of each customer bill in establishing internet connectivity in areas of internet inaccessibility, such as conflict zones, natural disaster sites and developing communities. Cuckoo customers are able to choose the project that they would like to support.[11]
In November 2019 co-founder Alexander Fitzgerald was one of 250 signatories on an open letter calling on the UK government to commit to policies supporting the tech sector.[12]
In February 2020 Fitzgerald claimed that “vulnerable people are being left behind” by the “big four” UK broadband companies, and called on the Treasury to fund Citizens Advise to become the statutory consumer advocate to help better protect broadband consumers.[13]
In April 2020 Fitzgerald stated that broadband providers were “ripping us off again” in relation to rules around how broadband contracts come to end.[14]
In October 2020 Fitzgerald joined MPs Jonathan Gullis, Dehenna Davison, Tom Tugendhat and Tracey Crouch in calling for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to reduce the rate of VAT on broadband from 20% to 5%, claiming doing so would reduce households nearly £2bn a year.[15][16]
In March 2022, in response to the pressures of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, Fitzgerald called on UK internet service providers to scrap exit fees and axe above-inflation price increase, claiming broadband providers are raising their prices by up to 9.3%.[17][18]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Meet the ex-Bulb PR creating the Bulb of broadband | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "Broadband startup Cuckoo closes $6m funding round". CityAM. 2021-04-25. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "They quoted us £75,000, so we did it ourselves: the Cuckoo brand story". Cuckoo Broadband. 2020-04-02. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "Cuckoo Internet closes seed funding to disrupt UK broadband market". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "Insurgent UK broadband startup Cuckoo Internet raises $6M round led by RTP Global, with JamJar Investments". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ Woods, Ben (2021-04-26). "Innocent Drinks founders back broadband start-up taking on BT". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "Meet the ex-Bulb PR creating the Bulb of broadband | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ Jackson, Mark; Jackson, Mark; Jackson, Mark (2021-07-19). "ISP Cuckoo Set October for UK Full Fibre Broadband Launch". ISPreview UK. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ Prynn, Jonathan (2022-04-27). "'Same-day' broadband service launching in London". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ Howard, Linda (2022-04-14). "Calls for all broadband providers to scrap high exit fees and reduce price hikes". Daily Record. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "Challenger broadband provider Cuckoo raises £4.3M to free users from expensive internet services". UKTN | UK Tech News. 2021-04-26. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "250 UK tech entrepreneurs set out policy demands | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "The revolution is imminent, and big Telco needs to change". CityAM. 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ Meadows, Sam (2020-04-08). "Two million face hidden broadband price rise as firms stop telling customers their contract is over". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "Internet is an essential — so why is it still taxed as a luxury?". CityAM. 2020-10-06. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "POLITICO London Playbook: 10 items in the PM's in-tray — Your end of summer primer — Sunak tax backlash". POLITICO. 2020-08-31. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ "Broadband startup Cuckoo calls on industry to abolish exit fees and end £1.3bn price hikes". CityAM. 2022-03-30. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
- ↑ Howard, Linda (2022-04-14). "Calls for all broadband providers to scrap high exit fees and reduce price hikes". Daily Record. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
This article "Cuckoo (ISP)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Cuckoo (ISP). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
