Superfast launches hi-tech support centre

Superfast Lancashire has launched a Business Support Centre showcasing a host of hi-tech business applications designed to help businesses get the most from superfast broadband.

Based at the Lancashire Business Park in Leyland, the purpose-built e-business suite will provide a specialised ‘teach-in’ centre for businesses to learn first-hand how superfast broadband can help their enterprise.

The centre represents a significant milestone in the rollout of the £130m Superfast Lancashire partnership which will make high-speed broadband available to 97 per cent of Lancashire homes and businesses by the end of 2015.

A team of specially appointed business advisors based at the centre will provide a programme of free support services including one to one consultations, training workshops, and IT business skills master classes featuring experts from a variety of fields – all free of charge to qualifying small and medium enterprises across the county.

Superfast Lancashire also announced that more than 400 homes and businesses in Leyland will have access to fibre broadband (with speeds of up to 80Mbps) – by the end of June. This builds on BT’s own commercial fibre deployment in Leyland The latest Superfast Lancashire rollout includes two cabinets serving around 40 businesses on the Lancashire Business Park. This is part of the first wave of fibre deployment across the county – connecting more than 10,000 homes and businesses. Bill Murphy, managing director of Next Generation Access for BT, added: “The showcase is an incredibly important initiative. Superfast broadband will help local businesses grow, attracting inward investment and boosting the local economy. If they thrive then everyone thrives – small and medium enterprises are the lifeblood of every community, creating jobs and stimulating growth.”