Press & PR

Industries based in rural areas are at risk of falling behind due to patchy or slow access to broadband services, business leaders have warned.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) called on Ofcom to bring in regulations to fulfil the demand for broadband nationwide.

"Businesses have a need for a standard quality of service provision across the UK," said the CBI's head of e-business policy Jeremy Beale.

Echoing this view was David Harrington, head of regulatory affairs at the Communications Management Association, who told ComputerWeekly.com: "For the sake of our gross domestic product, Ofcom needs to get off the fence and take a positive lead in encouraging investment in broadband networks nationwide.

"Unless enterprises across the UK have access to equal speeds, the UK will be unable to compete for future inward investment."

Businesses without broadband services cannot make use of fast data transfer, would have difficulty running a website and miss out on the savings offered by internet phone calls.

Vonage's services provide unlimited free voice calls to the UK and Ireland for just £5.99 a month under V-Plan 1.