New issue of The Connection released

In the February issue:

• Help for Haiti - Phone Co-op employees sent a donation to Télécoms Sans Frontières to help provide emergency communications in Haiti...
• Broadband on the move - Out on business with no broadband connection? Perched on a stool in a WiFi café balancing your laptop and a cup of coffee? Using The Phone Co-op’s mobile service, you can connect your laptop to the internet almost anywhere in the country.
• Need we mention the weather? Just because you or your staff can’t make it to the office doesn’t mean they have to be out of action. Conference calling is a quick and easy way of keeping everyone connected when they can’t get to the office or to meetings elsewhere.
• Cracking news from Eigg - In our last issue we featured our affinity partner, the Isle of Eigg, and their Islands Going Green initiative. We’re delighted to report that in January Eigg, which lies off the west coast of Scotland, was one of three joint winners of the Big Green Challenge,
• Customer profile: Delfland Nurseries - Delfland Nurseries is one of The Phone Coop’s most recent customers. Situated in the heart of the fertile fenlands, the company has been involved in plant raising for over 30 years and is one of the UK’s largest suppliers of organic plants to both commercial growers and the general public.
• Don't move house without us - With spring in the air, some people’s thoughts may be turning to moving house … whatever you do, please don’t leave us behind.
• Keeping you connected - For the vast majority of our home customers who have Phone Co-op line rental services our Standard Care service will more than cover their needs. But with increasing numbers of people now working from home and the growing dependence on broadband amongst many households, a line fault can become more than just a nuisance.
• Why Don’t You Fund works out swimmingly - Pamela Jefferies is one of several colleagues at The Phone Co-op who’ve taken out a grant from our Why Don’t You Fund which is administered by the Employee Council. She reports on how she’s used the fund to help overcome a lifelong fear of water.
• Could you get faster broadband - Find out if you can benefit from faster broadband speeds with the new speed upgrade on our Saver packages.
• Reduce phone and broadband bills - If you haven't checked your telephone and broadband bills for two or more years, it’s likely that the way you use your services may have changed. You might benefit from some of our great new packages.
• Election results - The results of our recent board election were announced on 15 January.
• Another winner - June Toasland who has received a hamper of Divine chocolate after her name was pulled out of the hat in our Recommend a Friend prize draw.
• Affinity partner profile: Oxfam Matt Lane, responsible for partnerships at The Phone Co-op, reports on a new affinity partner and a new approach to raising funds by Oxfam.
• Keeping the lines of communication open - There’s no denying that these are difficult times for businesses – and, indeed, many individuals too. Whilst the country may officially have started to climb out of recession, businesses and consumers are still feeling the pinch.

Download this issue

Global recognition for The Phone Co-op

23 November 2009

The Phone Co-op was recognised as one of the outstanding co-operatives from around the world at the International Co-operative Alliance General Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, last week.

The Oxfordshire-based telecoms co-operative, the only one of its kind in the UK, received an Honourable Mention in the medium sized category of the dotCoop Global Awards for Co-operative Excellence and was the only UK co-operative amongst the nine award winners.

It is a great honour for The Phone Co-op to be recognised at a global level, especially as the key criteria used by the judges were all about how well each organisation put into practice a distinctively co-operative business approach, which is what we aim to do. I should like to pay tribute to our board, and to my colleagues, as well as to our customers and members for having made this achievement possible.

Vivian Woodell
Chief Executive
The Phone Co-op

Download full news article