Internet is so poor firms tell staff to email from home

SMALL firms are telling their staff to send emails from home because the internet connection is so poor in their offices, Labour has claimed.

The news came as the Government admitted that one in three small firms does not have access to superfast internet, a proportion that is set to fall to one in five by the end of next year. Earlier this year business leaders warned that the number of small firms lacking superfast broadband was damaging the economy.

A government report published last week on business broadband admitted that just 68 per cent of the UK’s 1.3 million small firms have access to broadband speeds of 24 megabits per second (mbps).

This will rise to 82 per cent by the end of next year – but it means that 416,000 small firms are languishing in the internet slow lane, falling to 270,000 by the end of next year.

In the document, officials at the De- partment for Business, Innovation and Skills admitted that business broadband is lagging far behind speeds for people’s home addresses.

This is largely because home suppliers tend to sell broadband as part of an entertainment and sports package that is targeted at families and is not attractive to small firms.

The officials said the Government was taking the poor internet seriously, saying: “Whilst significant progress has been made, we are taking seriously the concerns raised about the access that businesses, particularly SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises], have to affordable, high-speed broadband.” They added that it was “vital that the UK is able to keep pace with that technological change on a national and local level to support SME growth”.

The Government will publish a law in this week’s Queen’s Speech which will give everyone a right to a much slower speed of 10 mbps by the end of this decade.

Chi Onwurah, the shadow digital economy minister, said the figures showed that the Government had to engineer a “step change” in broadband provision for small firms.

She said: “We know that digital connectivity is essential for a productive economy and small businesses are the engine of growth. Yet almost one fifth of them will still not have access to superfast broadband by the end of next year.

“I know small businesses where employees have to go home to send work emails because broadband access is so dire. We need a step change in broadband availability for small businesses.”

Grant Shapps, the former Conservative party chairman who is now campaigning for better broadband, added: “This would be the latest in a depressing catalogue of missed broadband deadlines, and therefore missed opportunities for Britain’s small businesses.

“These small firms create jobs for hundreds of thousands of people, but they’re being let down by poor broadband today, and the prospect of missed promises tomorrow.”

He said it was vital that ministers got tough with BT’s Openreach division to ensure greater access for small firms.

Earlier this year the British Chambers of Commerce, which represents 75,000 firms, warned that productivity was being hit by slow broadband.

A Government spokesman said: “We know that more needs to be done to improve connectivity for SMEs and that is why we will be reviewing broadband for UK businesses to see how else we can help them access affordable and high-speed broadband.”