News

Belfast businesses offered grants of up to £3000 for super-fast internet

February 11th 2014

Businesses in Belfast were today urged to take advantage of the government’s ‘Broadband Connection Voucher Scheme’ to help reduce the cost of super-fast internet connections.

The Broadband Delivery UK initiative provides city councils with additional budget to offer small and medium companies grants of up to £3,000 towards connection and construction charges* for a range of services from suppliers including BT Business.

Belfast is one of 12 UK cities where the scheme is already available. The others are: Cardiff, Coventry, Bristol, Edinburgh, Derby, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Newport, Portsmouth and Salford.

A further ten cities are planning to join the scheme by the end of March including Derry/Londonderry.

Once a business has checked they are eligible via their local city council, and understood the full terms and conditions of the programme, they will need to complete an application form. They will then receive a provisional offer regarding the amount of funding they can expect, following an assessment by the city council, and be asked to get quotes from two providers.

Paul Convery, head of business, BT Northern Ireland said:

This exciting scheme is a vital step forward for small and medium firms in Belfast. It will allow even more businesses to take advantage of the huge benefits offered by super-fast internet connections. Businesses can use the technology to boost their competitiveness, work more efficiently, attract new customers or strengthen relationships with existing customers. Every Belfast firm that switches to faster broadband is good news for the city.”

In order to qualify, businesses must be a small or medium sized enterprise (SME) as defined by the European Commission: employ between 1 and 249 persons, with an annual turnover not exceeding €50 million or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding €43 million**.

For further details about the scheme and how BT Business can help, please visit www.bt.com/BDUKvoucher