AN IT manager is calling on people to press BT to make a sought-after service available in his town.

Colin Batt, who lives in Tenterden but is IT manager at a business in Lenham, says the lack of a broadband (ADSL) link is "condemning us to be second class citizens".

Broadband makes Internet connection faster, more efficient and possibly cheaper. But the telephone company is only providing it to exchanges where there is proof of demand.

Mr Batt, who lives in Cranbrook Road, is urging people to log on to the BT website to register support for the service, in the hope that BT will bring Tenterden in line with other large towns and update the exchange.

"If you are working from home, it would be a real boost," he said. "Children often use the Internet for research and can easily be on the computer for hours at a time which makes it really expensive.

"But BT will not upgrade the exchange unless they have got the demand. This is an always-on service, where your computer is logged on all the time and you pay a set fee.

"We don't want Tenterden to be left as a backwater in the new online economy and there are significant cost savings available to businesses and private individuals in the town."

Access to broadband would mean subscribers could use the phone and surf at the same time and have an instant connection. Mr Batt believes that about 200 people would need to register their support on the website to convince BT that the service is needed in Tenterden. He says that the site shows that only 30 people have done so so far.

The Tenterden situation is explained on the BT website. It says: "Your exchange is one of 400 sites undergoing a detailed review. The initial review has concluded that enabling your exchange would not seem viable without further knowledge of possible demand."

The BT website is at www.bt.co.uk