BT sell-off plan will help local businesses say telecoms experts.

27th January 2016

Telecoms experts in South Yorkshire have backed a report by 121 MPs which says BT should be forced to sell its BT Openreach arm due to poor performance.

The report, written by MPs from all main parties, said that Openreach, which operates the network of phone and broadband cables for the majority of UK homes and businesses, had only partially extended superfast broadband supply, despite £1.7bn of government investment. Alex Hodgson, Business Development Manager at local business telecoms provider One2Call, welcomed the news; -The north can't be the -powerhouse we all want it to be if key business areas like Attercliffe, Maltby and Finningley continue to struggle to get adequate internet speeds. Clearly we need to ensure our telecoms network is managed and protected, but we also need to boost the speeds available to homes and businesses quickly so our local SMEs can remain competitive, and we think allowing fresh ideas into the marketplace can only help. In 2015 One2Call helped South Yorkshire business to claim more than £200,000 in government funding to improve their broadband speed.