Rutland Telecom specialises in providing Next Generation Broadband to rural areas.

We believe we are unique as an Internet Services Provider by providing local service and support from our offices in the high streets of small market towns. These are one-stop shops offering professional consultation regarding broadband and computer services. Potential customers can discuss their needs over a cup of coffee.

Our Technical consultants offer the highest standard of support either in our workshops or at the customer's premises. Customers can expect to have any computer-related problem resolved ranging from internal telephone wiring issues to discussing strategies for implementing internet family security. We recognise the importance of ICT to our clients and aim to remove the frustration of dealing with large organisations lacking a local presence.

Rutland Telecom is recognised in industry as being the first Communications Provider in the UK to develop Fibre To The Cabinet combined with symmetrical broadband services, which is taking place in the testbed rural village of Lyddington before being deployed to a number of isolated villages in Rutland and, following national publicity, to other areas of the UK.

The company is actively involved in feasibility studies with a number of organisations across the UK including Local Authorities, Businesses, Schools and Housing Associations.

Rutland Telecom was founded by David Lewis and Mark Melluish in 2007. It was merged with David's other business, Rutland ICT Computer Services, in 2009.

Dr. David Lewis (Managing Director)
After taking a PhD in entomology from Leicester University, David began a teaching career at Nottingham High School where he coached the U13 National Schools Tennis Champions. As a middle manager at Uppingham School, he was the first to introduce internet into the classroom in 1997 against the prevailing ethos. He left teaching in 2001 to establish Examboost, the first National financial incentive scheme for examination achievement which aroused considerable media coverage. Following a period as an ICT educational consultant in 7 different LEAs, he went on to form a profitable start-up ICT business with no capital investment. Two early contracts were from large schools who outsourced the management of their ICT facilities to his company. He is a Mikrotik Certified Engineer currently working on MPLS and IPv6 network topology. He has worked in Rutland for 18 years where he also manages another small local business Edgy Productions, a school musical production company. He lives in Uppingham with his wife Hilary and has 3 sons.

David was recently invited by the Welsh Local Government Association to speak at a conference "Closing the Gap: Delivering broadband to rural Europe" held at the Technium, Pembrokeshire on October 14th 2009. This was part of the European Week of Regions and Cities. He presented a subloop-unbundling case study and explained how this could be replicated in rural Welsh "notspots".

Mark Melluish (Rural LLU Consultant)
Mark has spent over 28 years working within the Telecommunications Industry. He worked for Cable & Wireless for ten years in senior Sales & Marketing roles, mainly in the U.K. but also spending time in Pakistan and the U.S.A. He has held sales management positions with both Marconi and Nokia (Fixed Networks) where he led his team to win major contracts both in the U.K. and Europe. In 2001 Mark became involved as Sales and Marketing director in a start-up local loop unbundling company, based in the Midlands - he was successful in winning a number of contracts awarded by Regional Development Agencies which delivered broadband to rural communities. He then went on, as part of a small consortium, to acquire the LLU assets of a major UK network operator which also led to a further acquisition of the assets of a rural broadband company. He now operates a consultancy, specialising in advising and assisting organisations and local government authorities who are seeking assistance in entering the LLU arena. He lives in Rutland with his wife Debbie and has 2 daughters.

Rutland Telecom operates within the requirements of Ofcom's Voluntary Code for residential broadband services.