According to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) the cash lies within making the broadband situation in the country better and able to provide a “fast, reliable and guaranteed service” at all times.
According to the federation’s freshest report 9 per cent of businesses had no access to today’s general speeds of up to 24Mbps with a quarter stating that they had to put up with speeds of 2Mbps.
The FSB believes that had the government decided to put more money into the broadband infrastructure, this could potentially bring more rapid growth to SMEs (small-to-medium businesses) as these could be more confident to start retailing online.
The report also suggested that the Government should be concentrating on bringing broadband to locations where “the market won’t reach” rather than making fast broadband even speedier.
John Walker, National Chairman of the FSB, said in a statement:
“Online trade has great potentials for small businesses but it still has its barriers.
“The biggest obstacle for many small businesses is the lack of broadband speeds and so as a result they cannot compete online.
“The FSB is calling on the Government to ensure that all small businesses are connected and have access to the broadband speeds they need to allow those that want to, to do business online.”
