The Government's invested £40million into the scheme, which was launched in April and runs until March 2016. Hundreds of businesses in Dorset have subsequently applied for and been granted funding of up to £3,000 to upgrade to high-speed broadband internet.
£22m of the investment has so far been allocated, leaving £18m available to SMEs across the UK - less than half of the original investment. VoIP Unlimited is offering quotes for companies that want to apply for funding and is urging people who want to take advantage of the scheme to apply soon. Over 36,000 SMEs across the UK have been successful with grants since the scheme started and 275 Dorset SMEs have successfully received vouchers.
The Government Connection Voucher scheme provides grants to fund the installation of new broadband connections for SMEs with fewer than 250 people or volunteers. Businesses must have a turnover of less than £41m, a balance sheet of less than £35m and have received less than €200k in public grants in the last three years.
Mark Pillow, managing director at VoIP Unlimited, said: “We’ve seen a surge in the number of applications for the scheme since becoming a registered supplier. Increasing connectivity speed is such a simple yet vital way to making a business work better, improving productivity and customer service through faster upload and download speeds. It also helps to future-proof your business for the digital challenges of tomorrow.”
Mark added: “We’d like to see a lot more businesses on our doorstep benefit – this is a national scheme, but rather than being equally distributed throughout the region, the funding is available on a first come, first serve basis. It’s being taken up quickly by SMEs across the country and at this rate, might even be allocated before March 2016!”