Farron calls for Cumbrian superfast broadband network to deliver for businesses

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has called on BT and Cumbria County Council to make sure that the planned roll out for superfast broadband delivers for local businesses.

Last week a contract for a £51 million roll out for superfast broadband in Cumbria was signed. Tim has asked the council and BT who won the bid to make sure the network is 'future proof' and delivers for businesses in Cumbria.

Currently superfast broadband is unavailable for 40% of the rural population of England.

The Connecting Cumbria project is aiming to deliver Superfast Broadband (24 Mega bits per second (mbps)) to as many people as possible in Cumbria and a minimum 2megabit per second service to the whole of Cumbria - resident, business, public sector organisation and visitors.

The lack of superfast broadband is a disadvantage for local businesses because it restricts the speed at which they can communicate and work online. This is a time consuming problem that affects daily tasks.

Tim said: "The Government has a responsibility to ensure that rural businesses are not at a disadvantage due to solvable issues. We need the Government to pursue the plan to roll out high speed broadband for our rural communities, to provide businesses and entrepreneurs with the best opportunities to run successful companies."