Broadband voucher scheme for businesses extended to Swansea

SUPERFAST broadband could soon be a click away for many Swansea businesses.

Swansea Council has successfully applied to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport for its broadband voucher scheme to be extended to the city from April 1 this year.

The scheme – a £40 million, UK-wide initiative funded by Central Government – gives small and medium sized businesses the chance to receive a grant of up to £3,000 to help them either install superfast broadband or boost their current broadband speeds.

It’s already up and running in Cardiff and Newport.

Grants can be used to provide solutions across a range of technology, including but not limited to wi-fi, fibre and ethernet connections.

Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Enterprise, Development and Regeneration, said: “We have long recognised that connectivity between Swansea and the wider world is of paramount importance to our economic future.

“To improve the IT infrastructure of our area we have worked with Superfast Cymru, a partnership between the Welsh Government and BT, to ensure that accessibility problems will be a thing of the past. We are also piloting a business exploitation programme in Swansea that’s designed to show businesses the things they can do with superfast speeds to improve their performance. This new initiative means these same businesses and others will soon be able to get financial help to make that connection.

“Superfast broadband can boost businesses by helping them work more efficiently, sell more to existing customers, attract new customers and give better customer service. Every business, whether it’s a large multi-national or a small, local B&B, wants to be more productive and responsive to their customers.

“The availability of grants from as early as April could give many small and medium-sized Swansea businesses the support they need to make the most of superfast broadband and flourish. This could then open up more investment and jobs in future.

“We’ve also gained agreement to extend the broadband voucher scheme across the Swansea Bay City Region as a whole.”

Culture Secretary Sajid Javid said: “This is fantastic news for Swansea as we know how important a fast broadband connection is for businesses across the UK. We want to make sure that small businesses have the technology they need to compete in the digital age. This scheme will help tens of thousands of small businesses around the UK and I urge all Swansea businesses to apply for a voucher from April 2015 onwards.”

Details of how and where businesses can apply will be announced once they’re confirmed.