Broadband Connection Vouchers Tweaked to Help Firms with Multiple Premises
The Government’s Connection Voucher scheme, which offers grants worth up to £3,000 to help SME businesses install a superfast broadband (30Mbps+) service in any of 22 cities across the United Kingdom (note: many more cities will soon be added), has received another small but notable tweak in an effort to make it more attractive.
Previously the vouchers could only be used to upgrade one business property’s connection, but now businesses with more than one trading location can upgrade them all. Sadly related firms are still restricted by the £3,000 cap, which remains a hindrance. So far today’s adjustment has only been publicised for Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport and Havant, although other areas will surely take a similar approach.
The voucher scheme itself, which is suffering from low uptake and was originally due to end in March 2015, has recently been extended to run until March 2016 and more cities will be added by April 2015 (here). On top of that an additional £40m was also added to the pot (total of around £140m).
Meanwhile many continue to argue that the money might have been better spent on helping to upgrade the most remote rural areas, but in fairness urban locations can also suffer from serious connectivity problems (the London example). Criticism will no doubt continue to be directed towards BT for its apparent slowness to resolve such issues, although in the meantime they’re happy to spend big on mobile operators and TV sport.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on Twitter, Google+, Facebook and Linkedin.
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This voucher scheme is basically an admission of failure.
“Meanwhile many continue to argue that the money might have been better spent on helping to upgrade the most remote rural areas”
I live in a rural area, but I’d have substituted the words “business parks”.
Poor connectivity might be excusable in the most remote of areas, but in business parks and districts it is simply inexcusable.
We have been looking into using a connection voucher.
It basically boils sown to 3 options:
1. FTTC connection
2. FTTPoD (if you are in an area that supports it)
3. Leased Line
Option 1 is fine, but it the connection voucher is only supposed to cover install costs. So the actual benefit of the voucher here is pretty limited. As FTTC install costs aren’t going to that much for an SME. And also this isn’t really making a long term improvement to the infrastructure, like pulling fibre to the premises would.
Option 2 would be the best use of the money for SMEs, however with the extortionate price rises from Openreach, earlier this year, even with a £3k voucher the prices are too high for a lot of SMEs.
Option 3 is simply way to expensive for most SME’s (even with the voucher), and most SME’s don’t need uncontended bandwidth.
If the Government really wants to help small businesses out, they should put pressure on Openreach to revert their price rises on the FTTPoD product, as well as make it available in more exchanges.
Otherwise, the connection scheme will not have a large uptake and will not have a lasting long-term benefit.
Good points.
I’d add, in addition, that start-ups and growing SMEs need agility.
Not the sort of agility that means spending thousands of pounds just to get an internet connection in the current premises before then having to upgrade premises.
One of my clients – doing very well – has had three different (larger each time) premises in three years. One had FTTC but that was inadequate (too slow) and all three have involved significant outlays for bespoke circuits of some type.
Yeah, that’s a good point.
I just wish the UK had a more developed WISP industry, that might give small businesses more flexibility.