North Wales businesses to benefit from better broadband

Technology will provide a major boost for businesses in North Wales as they emerge from the recession during 2010, a leading telecoms boss has claimed.

Speaking to the Daily Post, Managing Director of BT Business Nigel Stagg said major technological developments would play a key role in supporting Welsh firms, with super-fast broadband becoming available in more parts of Wales in 2010.

Research shows that firms which have harnessed the power of technology have coped much better with the downturn, he added.

And in the year ahead the gap between the firms which are “technology champions” and those lagging behind will become even more marked as technologies such as super-fast broadband, ADSL2+ and Ethernet revolutionise the way many small businesses operate.

“Coupled with faster upload speeds, a factor increasingly critical to business, they will make an incredible difference to what firms will experience,” he said.

By 2012 two in every five UK homes and businesses will have super-fast access.

Other technologies relying on BT’s new 21st Century Network (21CN), such as ADSL2+ and private Ethernet networks, will offer better, more efficient ways of working. Ethernet allows businesses faster, cheaper transfer of data and lower cost calls between sites at a fraction of the cost of traditional networks.

He said there were now more than 700 BT Ethernet connection points in the UK including, in North Wales, Bangor, Conwy, Caernarfon and Wrexham. Businesses will be able to benefit from dedicated bandwidth at the same speed in both directions, a particularly useful tool for firms running voice and business applications across two or more sites. With speed options from 2Mb/s to 1GB, users can adjust their networks according to speed, size, scale and configuration as needs change.

ADSL2+ will increase broadband speeds up to 20Mb/s and is already enabled in Connah’s Quay, Wrexham and other towns in Wales, with more set to follow.