DDT says businesses must support fibre broadband

Business support is needed to encourage the rollout of fibre optic broadband, according to Dorset Digital Taskforce (DDT) chair Dr Monica Seeley.

Speaking to View Online, Dr Seeley expressed concern that enterprises in the south-west county are failing to display sufficient levels of interest in super-fast broadband as they are currently unclear about the benefits offered by the technology.

Unless local businesses play their part by driving up demand, many Dorset residents will be left without fibre optic broadband connectivity, she argued.

Commenting on potential solutions to the problem, the DDT chief explained: "What we need to do is start helping our users understand what they could do if they had super-fast broadband."

Figures published by Ofcom last year showed super-fast broadband was available to only nine per cent of Dorset households at the time - one of the lowest levels of uptake recorded in any UK county.

However, regular broadband uptake was found to be relatively high at 69 per cent.