ON FAST TRACK
Jul 18 2008 by Paul Gannon, Evening Gazette
JEZ DAVISON
TEESSIDE firms have welcomed BT’s plans to introduce faster broadband speeds in the UK - but only if the price is right.
BT announced it would invest around £1.5bn in fibre optic cables, giving up to 10m UK households access to faster broadband and improving the infrastructure of company networks.
But the firm will only do so if it can make a good return on the investment.
Teesside firms believe there will be sufficient demand for the initiative, which would allow the UK to close the gap on more sophisticated IT infrastructures around the world.
In Japan, for example, average broadband download speeds are around 100 megabits per second (mbps) - up to 20 times faster than those in the UK.
Maitland Hyslop, chief operations officer at Middlesbrough-based Onyx Group, said a huge investment in IT infrastructure was needed to keep UK business competitive.
He said: “Broadband has moved on from downloading e-mail to downloading films and videos. Unless significant investment is made in broadband capability, some firms are going to lose out and fall further behind.”
Jonathan Ward, of Hartlepool-based PR firm Publicity Seekers, welcomed faster connectivity.
He said: “We receive and send out a lot of high-resolution images and download video podcasts. A large file can block up someone’s entire e-mail system so fibre optic cabling would help.”
Paul Barnett, chief information officer at Northgate, said businesses could benefit from increased bandwidths at “reasonable” costs.
“Networking costs are not cheap in the UK. We are behind Europe in that respect.”
A spokesperson for BT said that if the project went ahead, fees to end users would be set by the service providers. Under the company’s plans, UK customers could access top speeds of up to 100 mbps with the potential for speeds of more than 1,000 mbps in the future.
The company is also planning to install fibre optic cables in around 1m residential properties, making the service faster for small businesses and staff who work from home.
Nathan Robinson, of Saltburn-based Barclay Elsdon Lettings, said he believes the move could assist estate agents who promote their properties via virtual tours online.
BT said its universal service obligation, which stipulates that it must provide a copper connection to all homes, was outmoded and that a fibre optic-based infrastructure would better satisfy increasing demand for faster broadband access, especially in rural areas.
Several Teesside entrepreneurs - including Sally Robinson, owner of Old Byland-based online retailer, Ample Bosom - have claimed that a digital divide between urban and rural areas is making it harder to do business in the countryside.
