David Cullen

A highly experienced business developer and strategic thinker in many sectors, particularly the telecoms, media and technology (TMT), transport, utilities and public sectors, David is a long-serving Board member of INCA, the Independent Network Cooperative Association and was Chair from June 2012 to May 2018. INCA represents user and trade organisations delivering alternative NGA networks in the UK. He is the Founder Director of Prism Business Consulting, through which he also acted as Director of Regulation and Policy for ITS Technology Group until 2021.

David has over 30 years management experience in the telecommunications sector and has directed telecommunications activities for blue chip organisations, advised on and implemented transformation and next-gen initiatives for local and regional government, assisted in industry research and strategy development and been involved in several start-up businesses.

He has worked with the European Commission as an expert advisor on NGA Plans for Hungary and Greece and co-authored the EU Guide to High Speed Broadband Investment. He also led an Ofcom survey into NGA provision by non-major providers- the ‘altnets’, published alongside the 2014 Infrastructure Report. Most recently, he contributed to the development of INCA’s ‘Building Gigabit Britain’ Report, which was presented to and adopted by UK Government as a new strategic direction for investment in and development of the UK’s digital economy and infrastructure. He remains an expert advisor to DG CONNECT and DG REGIO and was the UK judge for the 2016 European Broadband Awards.

Prism, with French partner consultancy Tactis, have also written “Costs for Digital Communications Infrastructures”; a study for the UK National Infrastructure Commission published in December 2017 that provides a Cost Analysis of UK Digital Communications Infrastructure to 2050 for the National Infrastructure Assessment. This is the most significant and comprehensive view on the cost of the UK’s digital communications infrastructure options for over a decade. It also formed the cost basis of UK Government’s Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, published by DCMS in July 2018.

David is also considered a UK expert on state aid and public subsidy mechanisms through the above and his role as founder and CEO of NYnet, the broadband company established with North Yorkshire County Council which pioneered rural interventions and ran one of the 4 initial BDUK pilots (Superfast North Yorkshire).

He currently sits on the Welsh Government Advisory Panel on Business Broadband exploitation and also the Greater Manchester Digital Infrastructure Advisory Group.