What does Gigabit mean for Bristol?

How long could your business survive without internet? The answer is probably not very long. For modern business, high-speed internet is non-negotiable. Reliable broadband is recognised as a vital service today, and the faster the better.

Yet despite its importance, the UK malingers down in 23rd place worldwide for connectivity speeds, struggling to keep pace with developments in high-speed internet across in Europe.

In a strategy laid out by the Chancellor’s Productivity Plan in summer 2015, the government put forward a blueprint for bringing the UK’s digital infrastructure up to the cutting edge, intended to allow us to compete with advanced countries like Korea, Japan and Singapore.

Recent news that Bristol is to become a ‘gigabit city’ served by a new, pure fibre network of super-high speed internet forms part of a wider attempt to break the British Telecom monopoly that critics say slows the UK down, the hope being that new providers and increased competition will drive costs down and speeds up.

Triangle Networks has launched state-of-the-art services over CityFibre’s Bristol network, offering some of the fastest speeds in Europe within reach of the business community. Businesses are invited to register their interest with the highest demand area getting the service first.

“It is essential that a world-class and thriving city like Bristol, and the wider city-region, has the best array of connectivity solutions on offer,” says Nick Sturge who heads up SETsquared, Bristol’s flagship, high-tech start-up incubator.

He believes the current offer is lacking: “In the 10 years I have been supporting high-tech, high-growth businesses, almost every company growing out of the Bristol SETsquared Centre, has been delayed by provision of decent internet access in the offices they move to. We must strive for great broadband access being available as standard – just as water and power are expected.”

The Bristol and Bath region is second behind only London in the number of people employed in the digital industry with 800 ICT firms located here. Fast internet is critical to maintaining and nurturing the sector; but Bristol’s digital innovation isn’t particularly new.

Connecting Bristol – the city’s digital partnership – has been operational since 2006 leading work on infrastructure and digital inclusion. We’ve been the recipient of £11m government funding from the UK Super Connected Cities initiative, while Bristol is Open, a joint project between University of Bristol and Bristol City Council, has been pioneering research into how internet provision can be rearchitected to increase speeds and capacity.  

“By percentage, more adults use the internet in Bristol than any other city in the UK,” says Paul Wilson, Managing Director of Bristol is Open, revealing that Bristol’s digital standing has encouraged thirty-seven major high-tech companies to move here in the last three years. He believes the gigabit city announcement is “only good news”.

Emma Knapp, Client Services Director at T&S Creative Communications, a digital agency on Bath Road, believes the new service could keep Bristol ahead of the pack: “As a cutting edge creative agency, our need to transfer huge files and keep software regularly updated is a key part of the business and the ability to do this faster will both improve productivity and substantially reduce the frustrations of our team.”

World-class internet infrastructure will mean the city remains attractive to similar SME and major digital businesses, as Emma concludes: “The availability of ultra-high speed reliable internet will give the creative of hub of Bristol a strategic advantage over cities outside of the Gigabit Cities programme. “

Image – Shutterstock. 

Read how Bristol hosts the UK’s most productive digital cluster.