Rural businesses given better chance to join the digital economy

Communications network provider NYnet, which was formed by North Yorkshire County Council with funding from Yorkshire Forward and the European Union, is determined to ensure that rural businesses have the chance to compete with their city centre rivals.

NYnet, which has connected 800 public sector bases over the last five years, is now able to offer three tiers of ‘next generation’ broadband services in its NYnet Connect range. NYnet believes these services are ideal for small and medium-sized businesses.

A NYnet spokesman said: “It is a particular boost to businesses in the creative industries in rural and costal locations, which have previously been disadvantaged in terms of broadband connectivity.

“The creative industry in North Yorkshire has 11,600 employees in 1,500 businesses. They have previously been forced to rely on traditional dial up connections to access the internet.”

NYnet’s chief executive David Cullen said: “This is great news for the region and means companies from Scarborough to Skipton can now use high-speed broadband to support the latest digital services and IT technologies such as VoIP, video conferencing and fast downloads and uploads.

“This new range of products caters for the diverse mix of companies that are based throughout North Yorkshire – from sole traders to multi-nationals, so they can all obtain benefits to suit their specific business needs. It also means businesses in North Yorkshire can truly join the 21st century digital economy.”