The campaign to bring super fast broadband to Peterborough is gaining momentum, according to companies that are being badly affected by slow broadband speeds.

In the Peterborough City Council committee meeting, Richard Godfrey, ICT and Transactional Services Partnership Manager, said that in the petition to bring super-fast broadband to Cambridgeshire 10,000 people signed. Unfortunately out of this only 700 people were from Peterborough. Now that figure is increased to 1,150 and the plan is to cover 90 per cent of households in the county and the speeds available would be 25 Mbps. Currently a number of people who are affected by slow broadband are putting their signature assuring their support.

June Titterton, the managing director of You Services Ltd, an IT support company is supporting the campaign since the broadband in Fengate area at times is as low as 1Mbps and she is not able to use the latest Microsoft Office Programme. Hardwares like Flash drives are to be used for Cloud based technology and it is costly. She said that a lot of property in Fengate remain empty for the reason that the broadband speeds available is so low. She added that but for the ownership of the building she would have shifted to some other area. The internet speeds available in her house is better and she is forced to do some programmes there. She added that wholeheartedly she is supporting the campaign and trying to get the support of other firms in Fengate.

In the opinion of Paul Stevenette, Peterborough City Councillor, all people should be provided with the best broadband connection. At present the availability of broadband speeds is dependant on the location of one’s house and the distance to the exchange.

The Government wants to provide high broadband speeds to the whole country by 2014 and every county in the country want super-fast broadband and Peterborough wants to be the pioneer. The super fast broadband campaign to gain support of the public will continue till the end of this year and later on the data would be presented to internet providers for gaining their support.

Peterborough council leaders say that more and more people have to register their support for the campaign. Leader of Peterborough City Council, Marco Cereste said that increasing the connectivity in the region and securing super fast broadband would attract new businesses from all over, it would lead to creation of new businesses, give lifeblood to the existing ones, create new jobs and all the more people would be able to do their work from home. The leader added that to make this dream a reality all the people in the region should vouch their support for the campaign so that the authorities could convince internet suppliers about the broadband demand from the region.

The Leader of the Cambridgeshire County Council, Nick Clarke said that the more people registering their support for the campaign means the chances of getting super fast broadband in the region also would be more. The Leader appealed to the people to people to ‘click’ for the campaign.

A network of digital champions from community groups, villages, parishes and businesses are growing day by day announcing their staunch support for the campaign. Those who are interested can visit www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk/get-involved/, or email contact details to contact@connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk.Freepst reply forms are available at council offices, libraries and community outlets.

For the connecting Cambridgeshire project Peterborough County Council, Cambridgeshire County Council and BDUK jointly committed to 30 million Pounds. For bringing super fast to at least 90 per cent of premises across Peterborough and Cambridgeshire, they are working with business partners, District Councils etc and their aim is to get connectivity to the remaining properties by 2015.