Local businesses boosted by better broadband

Three Herefordshire businesses have benefited from improved broadband thanks to the Fastershire broadband project.

Eastnor Castle, the Land Rover Experience Eastnor and D3 Active received a grant to fund the installation of a new broadband connection from Herefordshire Council’s Fastershire project. The grant has been used to purchase three lease line providing access to 100Mbps download and upload speeds.
 
David Littlewood, General Manager at Eastnor Castle, said; “The improved connection has made a huge difference and it’s been fantastic news for all the businesses based at Eastnor.”
 
“Eastnor Castle and D3 Active are already benefiting from faster broadband speeds and the Land Rover Experience is due to be enabled in the next few months.”
 
“More and more guests staying at Eastnor expect good broadband speeds. It was vital for the future development of the Castle that we were able to meet our guests’ expectations and provide the services they require.”   
 
Fastershire is rolling out faster broadband across the county and has been boosted by the recent launch of the Marches and Gloucestershire Business Broadband Grant, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This new grant will cover the capital installation of a broadband connection to any business that is not covered under the project’s main rollout and can demonstrate an economic case.
 
Cllr Harlow, cabinet member for economy and corporate services responsible for the Fastershire project said, “This grant has been awarded under the Herefordshire broadband bursary scheme and reinforces Fastershire’s commitment to delivering faster broadband across Herefordshire.
 
“The bursary allows Fastershire greater ability to fund more bespoke and innovative solutions for businesses that have significant broadband requirements in order to grow and compete on a larger scale.  Herefordshire is the only county to run such a scheme but the new ERDF funded Marches and Gloucestershire Business Broadband Grant will allow us to do even more across the county and beyond”
 
Fastershire has already enabled more than 30,000 homes and businesses across the county to access superfast broadband and the recent announcement about phase 2 will see over 8,000 additional premises access ultrafast broadband.