Battlefield Enterprise Park in Harlescott has become the first business park in the county to start benefitting from the partnership between Shropshire Council and BT.
Yesterday saw the ‘switch on’ of four new fibre broadband roadside cabinets in the Harlescott area, with others to follow serving in total around 3,500 homes and businesses in the Harlescott area.
Engineers will complete the upgrade works that will serve most businesses on the Battlefield Enterprise Park over the coming weeks.
When an area has ‘gone live’, businesses and residents can order fibre broadband from a wide range of internet service providers as the network is open to all providers on an open, wholesale basis, thereby ensuring competitive prices. They will be able to enjoy download speeds of up to 80 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.
To coincide with the upgrade, Connecting Shropshire has organised a free drop-in session specifically tailored towards helping local businesses wanting to know more about how they might benefit from the new technology.
It’s being held at Shropshire Food Enterprise Centre in Vanguard Way, Battlefield Enterprise Park, SY1 3TG, on Wednesday, January 29, from 12 noon until 6.30pm, with advisors from Connecting Shropshire and the Council’s Business and Enterprise team on hand throughout. Any local business is welcome to attend.
Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council Cabinet member with responsibility for broadband, said:
“I’m really happy to see the first roadside cabinet to provide fibre based broadband to a business park. Connecting Shropshire is starting to provide access to fibre broadband in a number of communities which would not have benefitted without the intervention of the Council. I’m especially keen to see local businesses embrace faster broadband to boost their productivity and long-term sustainability”.
Ian Binks, BT’s regional manager for Shropshire and the West Midlands, said:
“Increasingly we’re seeing how the internet is impacting on almost every aspect of our lives. That’s why the availability of faster fibre broadband is so important.
“High-speed broadband enables everyone to do things faster and more effectively, recent research demonstrates that up to six out of 10 small businesses can grow faster as a result of better connectivity while 83 per cent can save time and money. Evidence also shows that jobs can be safeguarded and created with a high speed broadband connection.”
Nick Chavasse MBE, Shropshire Business Board champion for broadband, added:
“It’s good news for the local economy that Connecting Shropshire is starting to provide access to fibre based broadband for businesses in the Harlescott area of Shrewsbury. Battlefield Industrial Estate and Enterprise Park is the largest concentration of businesses in the Shropshire Council area. Fast and reliable broadband connectivity helps businesses to work smarter in a number of ways, including communicating better and exploiting new market opportunities”.
More information about the roll-out of fibre broadband is available from the Connecting Shropshire website: www.connectingshropshire.co.uk.
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