ITS pledges further investment to help ‘digitally stranded’ businesses

ITS has announced it is making an additional £1m investment to increase its broadband footprint due to demand from SME businesses that have poor broadband speeds, including those on purpose built business parks.

The group said the investment is aimed at helping businesses, including those in the North West, that have been left ‘digitally stranded.’ 

The firm, which is the number one supplier to the BDUK connection voucher scheme in Greater Manchester and Liverpool, and number four nationally, has recently signed up over 1,800 businesses in the North West.

This includes 300 of the 1000 businesses located on Knowsley Business Park in Merseyside, and it is active in a further seven regions across the UK.

Piers Daniell, managing director of Fluidata said: “The ability to deliver services over fibre to the premises without the need of using a traditional Tier-1 carrier means services can be delivered in a different timescale and with a unique commercial proposition. With fibre already available for quick deployment by the ISPs connected into our Service Exchange Platform, customers can be served quickly. Through ITS there is a unique proposition to businesses and consumers in the Hammersmith and Fulham area for high speed connectivity.”

David Cullen, director of strategy for ITS Technology Group said: “ITS has been a supplier to the BDUK connection voucher scheme since the pilot scheme began in June 2013 and became an accredited supplier in 2014. The appetite for superfast broadband has been phenomenal, as so many pockets of the UK have been overlooked and been left digitally stranded.

“We have, and continue to invest heavily in bringing affordable connectivity to these areas, which includes purpose built business parks, that have been campaigning for better broadband for years. For example, Knowsley Business Park in Merseyside, Pride Park in Derby, and Salmon Business Village in Oldham, to name a few. It means that thousands of SMEs now have access to superfast and even ultrafast broadband which has transformed their digital capabilities.”

ITS is currently active in Manchester, Trafford, Salford, Tameside, Liverpool, Knowlsey, Oldham, Leeds, Coventry, Derby, London and York under the BDUK connection voucher scheme, and is also preparing to launch in Sheffield and the North East.

ITS also recently acquired the assets of Konek-T in South Wales which includes more than 500 business and residential customer contracts.