Better Broadband in Norfolk still seems like a long way off for many… It is widely agreed that improving broadband and mobile signals would be better for business across the region.
Business leaders in Norfolk and Suffolk this week made fresh calls for action to improve mobile signals and broadband connectivity to support economic success across the area. Norwich-based agricultural purchasing group Anglia Farmers, which has a membership of over 3500 farming and rural businesses, has just released the results of a member survey completed in the autumn, which showed an average of 0.95% of mobile calls during this period were dropped.
Anglia Farmers CEO Clarke Willis said: “For people to have whole days when they cannot connect a call or send a text message is a real issue and we are working hard to do all we can to improve the service … for all those who live and run businesses in rural areas for whom poor mobile phone signal and slow broadband cause problems.”
“Poor internet speeds and patchy mobile signals have a direct impact on productivity because valuable staff time is wasted trying to establish a connection,” explains Justin Murray, director of Norwich-based accountancy recruitment specialists, Big Sky Additions. “To successfully uphold our customer care target, which demands that we stay in very close contact with our clients and candidates, we rely on the network to keep us connected – anyone who is trying to run a successful business in Norfolk will know that this can present significant challenges.”
Meanwhile leisure company Go Ape, which runs a high ropes adventure park in Thetford Forest, has invested £30,000 into high speed fibre optic broadband for its new Bury St Edmunds head office.
“We operate all around the country – and across the globe – so we really need good broadband,” said Go Ape MD, Jerome Mayhew. “It is an incredible frustration and it really holds back the rural economy. It funnels all the job creation into Cambridge and Norwich – jobs that would otherwise be spread more evenly.”
