Businesses on Anglesey facing IT 'meltdown'

ANGLESEY faces a business meltdown unless more is done to improve the island’s IT infrastructure, according to a communications boss.

The Government

As the Government and local agencies push more resources into creating opportunities for enterprise and employment on Anglesey, Annette Burgess, managing director of Welshpool-based eXwavia, says more needs to be done to support the need for fast and reliable broadband in order to encourage new business investment.

“In parts of Anglesey we have talked to people who have internet speeds barely above the old dial-up even so they are being charged broadband rates by their providers,” said Annette.

“We’re aiming to achieve until further notice 95% coverage of our wireless broadband on Anglesey which will mean we can offer consumers and businesses a choice of speeds between 4Mbps and 60Mbps.

“However the conventional wire-based broadband is so then below what businesses want in certain parts of the island and that could have a detrimental affect on future investment by existing and new businesses.”

Annette said eXwavia was providing a solution and wireless broadband was paving the way for high speed internet access throughout rural Wales.

“We’re dealing with quite a few businesses who have been struggling for sometime to get a satisfactory broadband connection at a reasonable speed in parts of Anglesey,” she said.

“Many of these businesses rely on broadband not just for e-mail, however cloud computing and large scale data handling.

The service they want

“The current infrastructure cannot cope or provide the service they want. We’re now providing the solution with wireless broadband, nevertheless the Government and others need to address the overall problem previously it’s too late.”

In February, Business Post reported how Annette backed the extension of the Welsh Government’s Broadband Support Scheme, which will boost access to firms and residents, supporting economic growth and social opportunities in North Wales.

Annette said: “The extension to the scheme will end uncertainty for many businesses and consumers who are struggling to get adequate broadband speeds or any form of broadband partly.

“We’ve already seen a substantial uptake on Anglesey where we’ve developed a wireless broadband network providing 4-40mbps high speed broadband to an area that struggles to see anything above 2mbps through conventional means.”