SPONSORED EDITORIAL

Thousands of businesses (SME) across Kent are being offered a big helping hand from the government to help with the costs of connecting to full fibre broadband.

Orbital is the approved supplier of the government scheme in the county supporting not only their existing customers but also new businesses also interested in the vouchers.

The company has invested over £1 million in unbundling Kent telephone exchanges and further deployed a large scale wireless network across Kent to provide backup routes to the fibres they have installed.

Earlier this year, Chancellor Philip Hammond unveiled the Nationwide Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) - an initiative funded by a pot of £67m which aims to boost digital infrastructure. The money will be used to provide vouchers worth up to £3,000 for small or medium sized businesses.

The vouchers aim to cushion the impact of costs from the switch to ‘full fibre’ broadband that will be burdened by some businesses. There is also an option available for businesses and even residential customers to group together and claim a boost on a voucher to subsidise the cost of installing a connection.

“If the internet is slowing down your staff, then it is slowing down your business,” said Ben Doherty, technical director at Kent-based Orbital Internet Group.

“This scheme provides an opportunity that otherwise might be financially unachievable for SMEs to increase their speed.

“The larger speeds coupled with reliability will allow these businesses to increase efficiencies by improving the time it takes to complete simple tasks.”

The government is hopeful that the scheme will bring faster and more reliable broadband access to more businesses across the country.

Full fibre broadband is seen as not only an essential part of Britain’s digital infrastructure but also for its economic future. It is part of a wider and ambitious target to connect 15 million premises to full fibre broadband by 2025, and provide full fibre broadband coverage across all of the UK by 2033.

Data collected this year by M-Lab and compiled by Cable showed that the UK had slipped from 31st to 35th in the global broadband league tables.

The average speeds in the UK had gone up in the past year and, at 18.5Mbps, were above the global average but still in the bottom third in the EU member states table.

Those lacklustre readings are now set for change and the foundations have already been laid to shoot the UK up the rankings.

“Superfast and Ultrafast Internet is an invaluable asset to any business and is one area where investing in a quality high speed connection could make all the difference,” added Mr Doherty.

“With this financial contribution provided by the scheme there really is no better time to make that upgrade to fully dedicated fibre.”

Orbital Internet Group, of which Orbital Net is part of, is the largest internet service provider within Kent and one of the largest privately owned in the UK. The company has been operating for 20 years and is based near Canterbury.

Orbital offers a substantial contribution towards any excess construction costs for dedicated fibre as standard already. The group is hoping that the latest scheme will take that contribution one step further by assisting with installation and further assisting towards any potential construction costs.

“As a Kent based business ourselves, we are proud to be one of the core delivery partners to this scheme”, concluded Mr Doherty.

“This service will open the door for businesses to look into other web-based services that previously may have been unachievable with low speeds, high contention or generally poor connections.

“We are happy to be a part of a process helping other Kent’s s business get connected to future proof pure fibre connectivity.”

For more details go to www.orbital.net