Businesses In Malvern First To Benefit From Worcestershire BDUK Project

Businesses at the Enigma Business Park in Malvern have become the first in Worcestershire to benefit from the county’s Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK)-funded fibre rollout, with local leaders promising that the wider availability of superfast broadband will boost the local economy.

Work on the £20 million Superfast Worcestershire project, a joint venture between Worcestershire County Council and BT, started last August and promises to connect 55,000 homes and businesses not covered by the commercial rollout of fibre, bringing total superfast broadband coverage in the county to 90 percent over the next three years.

While 79 nearby homes can also receive fibre as a result of the rollout, Superfast Worcestershire partners say the decision to target businesses first was deliberate.

Superfast Worcestershire

“We recognise how important high-speed fibre broadband is for our businesses and Worcestershire’s future economy,” says Councillor Simon Geraghty. “We have, therefore, focused on making high-speed broadband available to business premises as well as to Worcestershire’s homes. To this end, we have worked to ensure that the first cabinets to go live from the partnership will serve not only residents but also a key business location.”

Plastic moulding firm Synthotec Limited is one of the firms located on the business park and it says the faster speeds will have a positive impact on its business.

“As a specialised technical manufacturing company we often have to send large 3D model data files to our customers particularly in the aerospace and automotive sectors,” says Graham Ward, managing director of LGG Charlesworth Ltd, which operates Synthotec. “Faster broadband means we are more effective and efficient as a business and better able to meet our customers’ demanding timescales.”

BDUK-funded broadband projects have directly connected more than 500,000 properties in the UK to superfast broadband networks, with the government aiming to provide 98 percent coverage by 2018.

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