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Boardband Issues?? - 06 September 10

It has recently come to light that smaller businesses in Maylands are still trying to work in the dark ages when it comes to their internet connection. A number of small industrial companies in the Brickfields Industrial Estate on Finway Road have been unable to work due to the poor broadband signal and slow line speed. This is resulting in a loss of earnings and much frustration just at a time when Maylands is looking to get new investors into the area. Many of the larger firms in Maylands have a dedicated line from the exchange to their premises for guaranteed broadband speed, but this leaves smaller businesses out in the cold. Rachel Boxall, Area Director for Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce & Industry has been leading on this and says it is a crazy situation to be in, 'there is no excuse for poor telecomms infrastructure in such a major industrial area and it is poor that BT have as yet done nothing to help businesses'. However, there is good news because at a recent meeting with the Regional Partnership Director of BT, Annette Thorpe was positive that something could and would be done. The timing is perfect as BT is working with Herts County Council to look at communities that are currently not well served in terms of the internet. There is some EEDA funding which BT will match to survey and improve existing services to those areas where there are problems. Rachel commented that with Maylands being such a key part of the county's economy it is vital that this opportunity is seized and that the area benefits from the investment that BT is willing to make, 'there is a very short wondow for us to gather cases of poor internet connect and slow broadband speeds, but if as many people as possible can send basic details, it will help build the case for BT to access these EEDA funds and potentially benefit the whole area'. This is being supported by Mike Penning BT, who has already written to the CEO of BT and Daniel Zammit, Chief Executive of Dacorum Borough Council. It is vital that if you are a BT customer (BT can't check details for non-BT cusotmers) and your business is suffering from poor broadband that you contact Rachel Boxall (rachelboxall@hertschamber.com) by Friday 3rd September with your company name, a contact name and number/e-mail for BT and the phone number of the broadband line. This will go to BT for building a business case for the area to get some funding to improve the service.

Rachel Boxall, said 'in an age of superfast broadband it is absolutely no good that a major industrial area that is critical to Hertfordshire's economy cannot even get proper internet connection and businesses are losing time and money as a result. I am delighted to be working with BT on this and hope that by raising the issue we can really improve the service that everyone gets in Maylands. It's time to move the area into the modern age and show potenital investors that the telecomms infrastructure is there to support business. If we can get this sorted, Hemel should be at the top of the list as a place to go to do business and we could make it a real selling point. It's great to be supported by Mike Penning and Daniel Zammit. The business case is clear so we need as much support as possible to prove to BT that the current situation isn't good enough.'