Calling all businesses – we want your views on broadband

Calling all businesses – we want your views on broadband

West Sussex County Council is keen to hear from businesses in the county their views on broadband and how it helps, or hinders, their work.

The County Council’s been lobbying BT and internet service providers to help get faster broadband in West Sussex and tackle the ‘not spots’ where people are unable to get broadband at all.

More than 2,000 residents filled in a survey run by the County Council at the end of last year giving their views on broadband coverage and the same is now being run for businesses.

Cabinet Member for Environment and Economy Deborah Urquhart said: “The internet is vital for many businesses, especially those that are run from home, and we want to do all we can to enable better broadband coverage in West Sussex.

“We’re asking West Sussex businesses to help us understand which areas are affected by poor internet connection. All survey responses will be used to help persuade internet service providers and network operators to invest in badly needed improvements to the broadband infrastructure.

“We want to help local businesses and the local economy to benefit from the opportunities a fast broadband connection can bring.”

As superfast broadband is rolled out across the UK there is a risk that those areas which don’t have the best service could be left behind creating a ‘digital divide’ and therefore harm businesses.

Responses to the survey will be used by the County Council as evidence when lobbying for improvements and towards bids for funding that could help bring improved quality broadband to the county.

There are a number of ways to fill in the survey:

· For those who have access to the internet, it is available at www.westsussex.gov.uk/broadband
· Printed copies of the questionnaire are available from West Sussex Libraries or by calling 01243 642119.

The deadline for responses is Monday 28th March.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 18th, 2011 at 11:33 and is filed under News Bulletins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.