Poor broadband 'a real struggle' for rural firms

A weak and unreliable internet connection is causing all sorts of problems for a driver training firm in Shropshire.

Not only does the broadband often drop out for long periods of time but the signal can also be badly affected by the weather - especially during high winds and rain.

It is not rare for employees at Dulson Training, which is based on a remote business park near Shrewsbury, to finish their shifts at home where connectivity is more reliable.

A government programme to get hard-to-reach homes and businesses on superfast broadband is under way in Shropshire, yet not all areas will benefit from the investment.

"It's a real struggle," said Hayley Norgrove, who is operations director at Dulson Training in Rodington.

"If we've got 20 people relying on us to deliver online training and we can't complete the course, then those drivers may have to be refunded or take another day off work to finish the training - so it has a financial impact."

The landlord of the Rodenhurst Business Park recently had satellite broadband installed, which has boosted connectivity, but is reliant on good weather for a stable signal.

"If it's a nice day then we have good internet. But if the weather's bad then it can be on and off all day," said Norgrove.

"It's not very professional for us as a business when we're trying to provide training and the line's dropping out."

Her frustration is shared by Mark Openshaw who lives in a hamlet near Oswestry and has been battling since 2019 to get superfast broadband installed in his home.

A full fibre cable, which is vastly superior to old copper wiring, runs past the end of his property carrying a reliable signal to homes on the other side of a hill.

"All my neighbours are suffering from the same internet problems," he said.

"The engineers that have come out to us said the only thing we can do is wait until there's something in the pipeline to support us.

"We've been offered a 4G solution [via mobile networks]. That would be great, but we can't get 4G signal in this area."

An online map is available that shows the properties where full fibre is available.

It also shows the homes, including Mark's, where there are no planned works to install the technology under the government's Project Gigabit scheme.

The £5bn project was launched in 2022 to provide superfast broadband to areas unlikely to be connected by commercial operators.

The government has agreed contracts with 30 operators in the UK, including two in Shropshire.

However, Freedom Fibre, which won a £24m contract to deliver the service to 12,000 premises in north Shropshire, handed the contract back after connecting just 3,500 properties.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said talks were under way with other suppliers to ensure the remaining homes and businesses were not left behind.

Shropshire's other project in the south of county is being carried out by Openreach, which hopes to have 12,000 households connected by 2030.

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