BUSINESSES across Cumbria are harnessing the power of faster, fibre-based broadband to boost sales, raise their online profile and work more efficiently.

More than 127,000 which is approximately 94% of homes and businesses across the county can now access superfast broadband speeds of above 30Mbps all down to the work of the county council’s Connecting Cumbria programme, Openreach the UK’s largest digital network provider, and other commercial network providers.

More than 75% of those properties have chosen to upgrade but there are still thousands of Cumbrians who may not realise that they are able to order faster broadband services.

Cllr David Southward, Cabinet Member for Economic Development spoke of the availability of fibre-based broadband to premises across Cumbria:

“The pandemic and subsequent restrictions have demonstrated beyond all doubt the importance of digital connectivity to us all but in particular to businesses who found ingenious ways to continue growing when their normal ways of doing business ground to a halt.

“Much of that has involved growing their online presence which has in turn exposed them to new customers and markets as well as making everyday admin back-office tasks more efficient.

“I would encourage everyone to check if they can order a faster broadband service and, if they can, get signed up and experience for themselves the difference it can make.”