On Thursday 14th May at 1pm, the UK government ended their GBVS (Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme) which gave SME’s a grant of £2,500 towards the cost of their internet connection. As the installation fees for 36 month+ contracts are typically built into your monthly cost, the value of the grant equated to just under a £70 per month discount.
Connectivity is critical to businesses ever growing demand for capacity and bandwidth. Customers have an increasing need to expand their services and deliver on a global scale. June saw the soft launch of our new division Telcom Wholesale, with the aim of disrupting the channel market, providing tailored solutions, comprehensive support and a personalised approach to communication providers. In a fast-moving business world, where customers need a flexible approach to connectivity and scalable bandwidth to run everything from cloud services to hosted telephony, our infrastructure and expertise at Telcom Wholesale are uniquely positioned to provide this.
Here at Telcom we recognise that world-class internet infrastructure is essential to ensure the UK’s future competitiveness, it enables us to remain at the forefront of technology and continue the tradition of invention and innovation we are proud of in the UK. Faster and more reliable connections are transforming the way we live and work, and better connectivity supports businesses to grow. The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme run by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), enables small and medium-sized businesses around the UK to benefit from full-fibre connections. With most superfast connections still dependant on copper telephone wires, which are limited in the speeds they can support, a full fibre infrastructure is required to enable gigabit connection.
Five years ago, it all started out with a dream to transform Britain’s digital infrastructure. Telcom founders Shaun, Thom and Ali shared the belief that the internet is a basic human right and when readily available, is a catalyst for economic growth, technological innovation and empowerment, with life-changing impact. To realise the Telcom mission, the team set out to create a company people could feel proud of working for and a business customers felt went above and beyond that of the traditional service provider. I think our CEO Shaun put it right when he said “it’s been a rollercoaster to say the least but worth every moment” - I second that!
One of Manchester’s oldest warehouses, the refurbished Bonded Warehouse dates back to the 1860s and only had access to very basic internet infrastructure. The building, owned by Allied London has become recognised as the place in Manchester for enterprise, creativity and innovative working and is the first addition to the new St John’s project. Having a world class internet infrastructure was essential to attracting and retaining tenants.
Telcom Group today launched their not for profit, free coding school. ‘Recode’ will launch first in Bolton with 500 students nationally set to benefit over the next three years. The coding school will be a drop in facility for anyone wishing to find out about coding, offering some potential students the opportunity of a place on a three month intensive coding bootcamp. These intensive bootcamp’s will equip students with the skills they need to compete for future employment in the digital sector. The first class of 2019 will be open to budding coders from any background with no previous experience of coding necessary.
Landlords up and down the country tell us that internet connectivity is a key requirement for their commercial tenants. Yet, they often find themselves waiting months to have a service installed.
As Manchester establishes its position as a leader in the nation’s digital revolution, connectivity and modern infrastructure are becoming more and more central to the future of the city. This is why landlords and businesses are looking for ways to ensure they can rely on the latest internet infrastructure, that is not only robust enough for today’s needs, but also ready for future uses.
