A poor internet connection that was holding back business has led to a company boss spending £30,000 on connecting his firm up to fibre broadband.
Go Ape, an adventure park based in rural Thetford in Norfolk, suffered from sluggish broadband connectivity, according to its managing director Jerome Mayhew. He said that a better connection was crucial to expansion plans that will create 100 new jobs for the firm this year, reports the Eastern Daily Press.
The outdoors adventure company has decided to move its headquarters to just outside of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk. But this move meant either putting up with slow internet or investing lots of money in improving the network.
One quote the company got from an ISP was £105,000 to upgrade to fibre, but Go Ape eventually managed to find a much cheaper, although still expensive deal.
Mayhew said that rural firms could be missing out on creating jobs for local people as aspiring firms are moving to urban locations where fibre is available.
“It is an incredible frustration and it really holds back the rural economy,” he said. “It funnels all the job creation into Cambridge and Norwich – jobs that would otherwise be spread more evenly.”
Go Ape currently operates 30 locations around the UK, but plans international expansion in the US and Russia in the coming years if it can find the necessary investment.
Image: Go Ape
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