Each month when I prepare the copy for these articles, one of the concerns has always been: will I be able to send it off?

The fundamental reliance on internet access has now past the tipping point and has become a basic of life for most.

In a new report, FSB is calling for Government to adopt much more ambitious targets for rolling out high-speed broadband for businesses across the UK.

With an estimated 45,000 firms still on dial-up, and many more struggling with speeds lower than two megabits per second (Mbps), it is clear that while the residential market may be seeing the benefits of high speed broadband, this is often not the case for the business community.

The UK’s forthcoming digital infrastructure strategy needs to recognise this issue and put small businesses at the front and centre of future rollout plans.

Almost every (94%) small firm views a reliable internet connection as critical to their success.

The current Government targets of 24Mbps for 95% of the population and 2Mbps for the remaining 5% will not meet the future demands.

The FSB’s new report – snappily entitled The 4th Utility: Delivering Universal Broadband Connectivity for Small Businesses across the UK – highlights the scale of the problem. FSB members want:

1 The Government, in cooperation with industry, to commit to delivering minimum speeds of 10 Mbps for all business premises in the UK by 2018–19, regardless of location;

2 Business should be at the heart of the roll out of high-speed broadband and the types of products and services on offer need to far better reflect business needs;

3 The Government should prioritise the delivery of fibre-optic broadband to business communities such as retail parks;

4 In order to deliver on these objectives, structural reform of the broadband market is necessary. The FSB wants the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to conduct, at the request of Ofcom, an assessment into the current market structure.

The fact we have about 45,000 businesses still on dial-up is unacceptable and many more throughout the country, even in London, are receiving poor service.

Evidence from our members shows this clearly is a problem affecting all corners of the UK, rural areas and cities alike.

While progress has been made with the residential market, businesses have not enjoyed the same benefits, which is holding back their growth.

We therefore want to see the Government show ambition with its broadband targets. Leaving 5% of the population with a 2Mbps connection in 2017 is just not good enough.

As this report shows, too many of our small firms are held back by the current state of the broadband market in the UK.

We need to not only raise download speeds but also upload speeds that are so important and where provision is especially inadequate.

Otherwise firms’ growth ambitions will be blunted, while Government efforts to get every firm to go “digital by default” when filing its taxes online will be impossible to achieve.

We need to not only raise download speeds but also upload speeds that are so important and where provision is especially inadequate.

On a personal note, having just reached the seniority in age of 65, I was reliant on my mobile internet in accessing the state pension site to log my decision on claiming the pension – wasn’t I grateful I had a phone to call them as a fallback.

What friendly people, and isn’t that what we are beginning to lose, actually conversing with people?

On that note I can also tell you that come November I will be “retiring” as the FSB Regional Chairman after 13 years.

It has been increasingly challenging to run a growing business and spend almost a third of my time delivering for the FSB as a volunteer.