Central London based businesses are currently losing around £37 million a year worth of business and more than 50,000 working days all because of broadband issues including slow speeds, new study claims.
According to a study conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) wherein 400,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and their broadband capabilities were analysed, many SMEs complained about losing business opportunities due to internet connection issues.
The report, based on data from YouGov, found that more than 60 per cent of businesses admitted they felt they could cope without a landline and that they had to spend more than £30 million on maintaining them each year.
Colm Sheehy, senior economist at CEBR, said as per the research report central London has the highest concentration of SMEs suffering from low broadband speeds and that its affecting London’s economic productivity.
Businesses based in the City of London reported average broadband speeds of just 11.2 Mbps, as compared to the London average of 20.5 Mbps. More surprisingly those based around east London, near the Silicon Roundabout claimed to be as the capital’s technology hub, reported some of the worst internet connections in the region.
A recent report by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) further suggested that the trend is not just confined to London only and that below-average UK broadband speed was not “fit for purpose”.
CEBR’s report claimed that businesses in London waste around 50,400 days waiting for broadband installation, time that cost enterprises more than £7 million.
London is all preparing to become a greater technology hub, with the capital hosting its first Technology Week earlier this year launched by Mayor Boris Johnson, something that he wants should become “bigger than Fashion Week” in the long-term.
