'Somerset firms need better broadband' (From Bridgwater Mercury)

'Somerset firms need better broadband'

12:44pm Tuesday 1st December 2009

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FIRMS in rural Somerset remain deprived of fast broadband speeds, it was claimed this week.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises - which make up to 97% of the British economy - are still finding their ambitions of building their businesses hampered by the inaccessibility of high-speed, low contention broadband, particularly in rural areas, according to IT provider Outsourcery.

The firm estimates that 166,000 people nationwide live in “not spots” where there is no internet connection at all, while 2.75 million people - mostly in rural areas - have broadband speeds of less than 2Mbps.

Campaigners say not enough is being done doing enough to ensure that their goals are met by private companies who provide these services.

Charles Trotman, head of rural business development at the Country Land and Business Association said: “What is required is a legal obligation on the part of broadband service providers to ensure that everyone has access to a minimum broadband speed of 2Mbps.”

Mark Seemann, product strategy and development director at Outsourcery, said: “The aim is essentially to tinker with the broadband speed rather than solving the underlying issue which is that the UK is using arcane technology. The nation's copper infrastructure desperately needs to be upgraded to fibre optic in order to satisfy businesses requirements for today and in the future.

“A broadband infrastructure dependent on copper wires will not push much past speeds of 50Mbps - even with the latest broadband technology - while a purely fibre optic infrastructure can reach speeds of 100 Mbps per customer, rising to 1GB.”

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