The number of Worcestershire businesses able to get high-speed fibre broadband has more than doubled in two years, thanks to the multi million pound Superfast Worcestershire programme, lead partners Worcestershire County Council and BT announced on Friday August 5, 2016.
The County Council revealed it had achieved its ‘Open for Business’ target of making the technology available to 90 per cent of businesses in the county. And the number of firms with access to fibre is continuing to grow.
Superfast Worcestershire is a partnership between Worcestershire County Council, BT and the Government’s Broadband Delivery UK programme and builds on the commercial roll-out of fibre broadband by the private sector.
To celebrate the key milestone representatives from Worcestershire County Council were joined by leaders from BT, the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, Worcestershire Business Central, Worcestershire Federation of Small Businesses, Hereford and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce and local businesses at Strensham Business Park, one of the latest areas to benefit from fibre broadband.
One business quick to take advantage of the new service at Stensham Business Park is Rural Chartered Surveyors Carver Knowles. Andrew Troughton, Managing Director, said: “Superfast fibre broadband is transforming our client relationships, making us more effective and saving us money. In a normal day’s work we have to send lots of emails with large file attachments and most planning applications are now done online so that means more large files to upload. We can update our own website and do everything online we need to quickly and effectively to offer our clients the standout service they need – and we want to provide.”
Classic car restoration firm RetroMarques Limited, who are also based at Strensham Business Park, welcomed the news too. Mark Knight, Director, said: “The arrival of superfast broadband brings a wealth of opportunities to our business. We have two sites so sharing information across both sites will be so much easier. Also we use Dropbox a lot to share photos of restoration work with our customers who often live far away from the workshop. It will now be so much quicker to upload those photos and keep our customers up to date with progress on their project.”
Mark Martin, owner and director of One Creative Environments Ltd and Chair of the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership’s Business Board, said: “This technology is vital for businesses. Having 90 per cent of businesses with fibre broadband access, as well as the extension to the roll-out, is great news for the economy and I would encourage companies to upgrade so that their business can benefit at the earliest opportunity.”
There are a number of Worcestershire based businesses who haven’t looked back since upgrading their business to fibre broadband. Having a faster, more reliable connection opens up opportunities for businesses. Already, one in three households and businesses have signed up for the faster services. For more information about the benefits of superfast broadband and to check if your business can upgrade, visit the Superfast Worcestershire website.