Boos for BT, the internet villain

BT was confirmed as the villain of the UK internet industry at the 'Internet Oscars' held last night in London.

Fifteen awards were up for grabs at ISPA's internet industry awards, but the only safe bet was Sir Peter Bonfield, chief executive of BT, collecting the title of Internet Villain of the Year.

BT was not initially shortlisted for the internet villain category after small print ruled that as a sponsor, it was ineligible for the award. But sportingly the telco pulled out of the sponsorship, putting its chief executive Sir Peter Bonfield into the shortlist for the title.

But in true Oscar ceremony fashion Sir Peter was unable to attend the ceremony and left the pleasure of collecting the award to David Hughes, president of BT Ignite's internet division.

Hughes said: "I am delighted to receive this award on behalf of BT. I thought we'd actually blown it as we connect a new small business online every five minutes and give consumers unlimited access. If we can win for this performance, I can't wait to see what we win next year."

BT's popularity was evident throughout the ceremony, with BT Ignite roundly booed when it presented the Best ecommerce service award to ISP Business Serve, and wildly cheered when Bonfield was confirmed as the internet villain.

Making his first public appearance at the awards, held at the London Hilton Hotel, was Andrew Pinder, the recently appointed e-envoy. Pinder said he hoped to return to the ceremony next year to collect his own award - "not the internet villain but the hero".

And the winners were:

Consumer Awards

• Best Consumer ISP (sponsored by Europay International)

ICScotland

• Best Consumer Customer Service (sponsored by IP Support)

F9

• Best Consumer Product or Service (sponsored by Energis Squared)

Doo Yoo

Industry Awards

• Best Hardware Supplier (sponsored by PSI Net)

Cisco Systems

• Best Software Supplier (sponsored by neosnetworks)

The Apache Software

• Internet Hero (sponsored by Ciscom)

Tim Berners-Lee

• Internet Villain (sponsored by idesk)

Sir Peter Bonfield, chief executive BT

• Positive Contribution to the Internet Industry (sponsored by UUNET)

Internet Watch Foundation

Business Awards

• Best Business ISP (sponsored by Trend Micro)

UUNET

• Best Business Customer Service (sponsored by CityReach)

Netscalibur UK Ltd

• Best European ISP (sponsored by NSIRatings)

Easynet

• Best ASP (sponsored by XO Communications)

TS.com - Ticketing Solutions

• Best E-Commerce Service offered by an ISP (sponsored by BT Ignite Internet Services)

Business Serve plc "E-Business Builder"

• Best M-Commerce Service offered by an ISP (sponsored by IBM)

BT Genie

• Most Innovative New ISP Product or Service (sponsored by Cable & Wireless)

IWEB technologies "i-notes"