Britain’s SMBs Are Finally Getting Faster Broadband

Government figures have revealed that more of Britain’s small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) are benefitting from faster broadband connections.

More than 40,000 SMBs have already signed up to the Government’s Broadband Connection voucher scheme, which provides grants of up to £3,000 each to cover the costs of installing faster and better broadband.

The scheme is set to end in March 2016.

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The scheme, run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), has ring-fenced £40m available in 2015/16, with vouchers being provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and with more than 1000 applications now being received each week, businesses are being warned to sign up whilst they still can.

“Our offer to small businesses has been a tremendous success and is proving incredibly popular,” said Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey.

“More than 40,000 UK businesses have already taken up our offer which is aimed at boosting both their broadband speeds as well as their bottom line. Businesses need to act now to ensure they don’t miss out on this fantastic offer and I’m urging all eligible businesses to apply now before it’s too late.”

The DCMS revealed that companies in more than 50 cities have already signed up for the vouchers, with London (11,664) leading the way, with Manchester (4,163) and Leeds-Bradford (4,016) also seeing high numbers of sign-ups.

2,084 Scottish SMBs have also registered, as have 2,042 in Wales and 1,867 in Northern Ireland as the Government looks to push the benefits of having high-speed broadband for businesses across the UK.

A recent study by Virgin Media Business found that nearly two-fifths of SMBs didn’t know what their maximum broadband speed was, and seven-tenths don’t know how much data they consume each month.

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