Member Article

Sheffield Council broadband funding bid welcomed.

Sheffield City Council’s announcement of its intention to join the Government’s Superconnected Cities Voucher Scheme, which could net local businesses up to £3,000 each to upgrade their broadband speeds, has been welcomed by local business communications specialist One2Call.

In an email to local broadband suppliers announcing the move Edward Highfield, the Director of Sheffield City Council’s inward investment arm Creative Sheffield, said:

“The scheme will enable SMEs in Sheffield, and hopefully the whole of South Yorkshire, to access Government funds to subsidise the costs of connecting to Superfast Broadband by up to £3,000. We hope to be up and running from 1st April 2015.”

Nick Bass, Director of One2Call Ltd, said of the move:

“I hope the council are successful in joining the voucher scheme as we know there are lots of local businesses who desperately need faster connections in order to stay competitive.

This issue is not just about faster web browsing. A faster, more reliable connection helps companies to work quicker, communicate better using video, and more cheaply using VOIP telephony, and by moving IT services to the cloud their employees can work from anywhere at any time.

Imagine how many working hours would have been saved during the recent snow if more companies had a flexible working option in place!“

Sheffield City Council has promised to keep local telecoms companies up to date with the progress of their bid.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alex Hodgson .