FSB demands Govt broadband rethink

FSB demands Govt broadband rethink

The Government’s target for UK superfast broadband speeds is not ambitious enough compared to other countries and needs a radical rethink, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

The group, which represents small firms and sole traders, many of which are homeworkers, is calling on the Government to boost the speeds it is targeting. It wants a pledge to deliver at least 10Mbps across the UK by 2018/19, rising to 100Mbps by 2030.

The Government currently aims to provide speeds of 24Mbps or above to 95 per cent of the population by 2017. The remaining five per cent would only be guaranteed a 2Mbps minimum. That compares to plans in Finland to provide universal speeds of 100Mbps by 2015 and South Korea’s 1Gbps target for all by 2017.

FSB chairman John Allan told the BBC: "The fact that we have around 45,000 businesses still on dial-up is unacceptable and many more throughout the country, even in London, are receiving poor service.

"Evidence from our members shows this clearly is a problem affecting all corners of the UK, rural areas and cities alike. While progress has been made with the residential market, businesses have not enjoyed the same benefits, which is holding back their growth."

The FSB report found that 94 per cent of small firms consider reliable internet connections to be ‘critical’, and just 15 per cent of those surveyed said they were ‘very satisfied’ with their current service.

The report also called on the Government to make fibre broadband delivery to new and current business parks a priority of the roll-out and said the broadband market should be reformed as part of a shake-up of the national broadband strategy.

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(Image: Kings Sutton)