Posted: 18th Sep, 2009 By: MarkJ
Local businesses, councillors and MPs for the Welsh town of Cardigan are reportedly up in arms over the slowness of BTs broadband service to the area. Businesses claim to be losing money because, at busy times, the areas speeds become so slow that Internet access feels almost crippled.
The MP for Ceredigion, Mark Williams, and town mayor, Cllr Mark Cole, are now both getting behind a new campaign to make BT aware of the problem and have the local telephone exchange upgraded.
MP Mark Williams told the Tivy-Side Advertiser:"In a rural county such as ours, our small business sector relies on broadband more than most, which is why they deserve to have that same entitlement that their competitors can rely on in the bigger towns and cities.
It is wholly unfair that the likes of Haverfordwest and Carmarthen are due to have their exchanges upgraded by BT, but Cardigan is being overlooked. This is completely unacceptable and I have written to BT demanding that they upgrade Cardigan's exchange so that our local businesses have every opportunity to thrive in what are already difficult economic times."
However BT claims that it is not aware of any particular issue of slowness in the area, though they have pledged to investigate. The operator is also encouraging customers to check with their ISP first, as opposed to laying all the blame solely at its feet. Tamsin Wright is collating evidence from local businesses for the campaign - email her here:
tamsin@mwldan.co.uk .