Broadband programme provides £10m boost for Leeds and Bradford businesses

BUSINESSES in Leeds and Bradford are to benefit from a £10m share of the £100m superconnected cities programme, designed to help boost productivity and make a step change in the way companies do business.

‘Connection vouchers’ worth up to £3,000 will be available through the programme to businesses in the two cities to cover the installation costs of upgrading to a superfast or business grade broadband connection.

The progamme has been launched in 22 cities nationwide.

Communications minister, Ed Vaizey, said: “The broadband market is moving at an incredible pace. Today, businesses expect and demand faster and faster broadband to compete in the global race.

“Connection vouchers will be an important tool for cities in helping to address that demand, and Government has now allocated up to £100m to provide a digital boost to superconnected cities like Leeds and Bradford.”

The voucher scheme is open to all small and medium-sized enterprises in Leeds and Bradford, with 2,500 – 3,000 businesses expected to take advantage of the offer and upgrade to a faster broadband connection.

Coun Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council’s executive member for development and economy, said: “It is extremely disappointing that the Government has unable to progress the Superconnected Cities programme as originally envisaged.

“Investing in infrastructure to create a superfast broadband corridor connecting Leeds and Bradford would have brought the benefits of high grade broadband not only to individual businesses but to a much wider range of communities across the two cities.

“Nevertheless the support for SME businesses is welcome and will help significantly improve productivity and their competitiveness.”

Mark Goldstone, head of business representation at Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber, said: “High speed broadband connections allow businesses to do things quicker and do things more efficiently. Faster processing times and a more reliable connection mean large amounts of data can be transferred quickly and businesses can communicate with customers more easily and in different ways.

“By reducing downtime in other areas of the business it means companies can do more and they can do things they couldn’t do before. By using technologies such as cloud computing to store and access data, companies can also avoid having to invest in expensive server hardware and know how within the business.”

The Superconnected Cities programme is part of a national programme to improve broadband connectivity and is running alongside the Superfast West Yorkshire infrastructure programme, which aims to bring high speed connectivity to residents and businesses in more rural areas.