We didn’t want to gather everyone together and tell them half a story, but with a few more weeks we think we will have some very exciting news for you. No promises – it’s cutting-edge stuff and anything could happen, but the signs are positive.

Meanwhile, we wanted to keep you informed about what the survey is showing and what you’ve told us in our meetings (if you haven’t taken the survey yet, please click here and take the chance to win an iPod Touch while you’re at it!)



Here are a few headlines:

48% of businesses have an “up to 8Mb” broadband connection.

A third of businesses don’t know how much they pay for their broadband!

43% of respondents spend 80% or more of their working time online.

Over 71% of businesses don’t feel that their internet connection is good enough:

It isn’t fast enough (62%)
Uploading takes too long (43%)
It isn’t reliable enough (33%)

Only 14% of businesses don’t see a negative impact if they can’t get faster broadband:

It will reduce productivity (71%)
It will restrict innovation (62%)
It will reduce competitiveness (43%)
The business will have to relocate (19%)



Quotes given to us include:

“It grinds to a halt”

“We have gone from transferring megabytes every day to gigabytes every day in the space of two years”

“The speed drops to 1.5Mbps in office hours, down from 4.5Mbps 18 months ago”

“Upload speed is the real issue… We really need fibre all round the Lace Market”

“Prices elsewhere in the country put us at a disadvantage… No choice of provider means no competition”

“Speed is expected. We are at a competitive disadvantage”



So what next? Well, we still need more people to take the survey – this is vital in demonstrating that people in the Lace Market want and need better broadband. Please encourage your friends and colleagues in the area to take part.

Keep an eye out for a new date for the feedback event – we hope you will be able to attend to hear about the exciting things we have planned!

The report demonstrates a range of technologies and their associated costs, from around £5.1bn for fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) to £28bn for fibre to the home (FTTH). Not surprisingly, it suggests that deployment to rural areas will cost significantly more.

Perhaps the main point in relation to the Ultraband project, aside from the predicted costs themselves, is that with high fixed costs of rollout, the economic viability of deployment depends heavily on take-up. That means that fibre is more likely to come to areas that demonstrate strong demand – precisely what the Ultraband project is all about!

Make sure you let us know that you want fibre through our contact form and by completing the survey.