Openreach has recently shed more light on plans to extend its Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) superfast broadband network to aid small businesses across the UK. Verastar comments.
Accessing superfast broadband
In this fast-paced digital world, British small businesses need fast, reliable broadband connections to engage with consumers online. An Ofcom report shows that 83% of British small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consider communication services such as the internet to be vital for their operations.
While 75% of British premises have access to a superfast broadband speed of 24Mbps, this applies to just 56% of SMEs. This is limiting small business growth; each UK SME worker loses 15 minutes a day due to slow broadband speeds. Whitehall has promised that by the close of 2017, 95% of British premises have access to superfast broadband, although it may still be unavailable to 18% of SMEs.
Extending superfast network
To address this issue, UK Business Secretary Sajid Javid has launched a UK government review of business broadband. Furthermore, UK telecoms infrastructure company Openreach is installing VDSL2 and FTTP lines across the country to ensure SMEs can access superfast broadband. At present, the Openreach FTTP footprint of 300,000 premises passed is 1% of the UK.
Following extensive trials in Bradford, Openreach will now extend the FTTP Superfast broadband network. It will allow businesses in Bath, Bradford, Bristol, City of London, Holborn, Liverpool, Manchester, Salford and Westminster to connect to ultra-fast broadband.
Providing effective connections
Commenting on this news, Openreach CEO Clive Shelley said: “Our aim is to make ultrafast broadband available to 12 million homes and businesses by the end of 2020. SMEs have told us they want an alternative to dedicated lines and that is what we are going to give them.”
With this development, it is clear that Openreach are committed to ensuring that SMEs throughout the UK can access essential superfast broadband speeds. It is vital that small businesses can utilise superfast broadband, in order to compete against larger businesses. kinex, a brand operated by Verastar, provides the first-rate business broadband services UK SMEs require to succeed online.
Verastar
Verastar is a leading provider of essential business services to micro SMEs, operating under the following brands: kinex, Clear Business Water, Titan Telecom, Marble Telecom, Economy Gas and 118777 Limited. Our business model is focused on providing a spectrum of consolidated services that disrupt traditional markets and create great savings, efficiencies and value for our customers.
