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Dear Business Owner,
We are writing to let you know you may be eligible for further grant funding to support improved digital connectivity. As an individual business this is up to £10,000 but could be more if a collection of businesses applied together. You will need to act fast as applications will only be open between 1st and 30th November 2021.
https://southhams.gov.uk/community-recovery-grant
First you need to establish if you are due to receive a fibre connection from Airband. Simply use the postcode checker on this website https://www.airband.co.uk/ and if it says ‘Your address is part of the Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) funded project’ then you are already due to get fibre to your premise under this government contract. If you get any of a number of different messages such as 'you can get superfast', or 'you are close to our network' then the grant funding could still be available for you.
So if you are not due to get fibre through Airband please email communitybroadband@swdevon.gov.uk and set out:
- Details of your current broadband package
- How your poor connectivity is impacting your business
- What you have investigated to improve your connectivity, including any quotes from suppliers
If you have not investigated how to improve your digital connectivity a first step could be to contact your current Internet Service Provider (ISP) and ask for a quote for them to provide fibre on demand. This quote should be broken down to show the construction costs of installing the fibre, installation cost and monthly line rental. Most ISPs should be able to provide a quote for providing you with fibre to your business. If you are having trouble getting a response from your ISP you may wish to ask for a quote from BT or Amvia who we have spoken to:
BT Business team in the south west is called ‘Coastal Communications Ltd’
01752 753043 (Harry Giles)
Please explain you are looking for a quote for either BT net express (your own fibre line from the cabinet) which is only available in some areas and/or BT net (your own dedicated fibre line from the exchange). In some locations BT should be able to tell you the cost over the phone, or they may need to request a survey from Openreach which will hopefully take less than 30 days. Once you have this quote please email communitybroadband@swdevon.gov.uk
Amvia
Please email FTTPondemand@amvia.co.uk or call 0333 7338050 (and ask for Radaam Thirlway)
You need to state you are asking for a desk based quote to provide FTTP on demand to your address. Once you have this quote please email communitybroadband@swdevon.gov.uk
If you have any further questions please contact Community Broadband communitybroadband@swdevon.gov.uk
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