Devon broadband provider, Jurassic Fibre, helps local businesses get better connected

After a difficult year for many SMEs, Jurassic Fibre’s Steve Garrood explains why supporting your business neighbours is more important now than ever.

Exeter-based telecoms company Jurassic Fibre launched two years ago with the intention of making ultrafast fibre-to-the-premises broadband available to rural towns and villages across the South West, previously overlooked by national providers.

Fast forward to 2021 and, having already connected over 25,000 homes and businesses across East Devon, North Devon and Somerset, including many business parks, Jurassic Fibre is well on track to connect 350,000 premises by 2024, backed by with £250m investment from Fern Trading and advised by Octopus Investments.
Steve Garrood says: “The South West has been struggling for years with inadequate broadband service from the current large ISPs, this is something which has been amplified through lockdown, with businesses pivoting to home working, whilst homes were under increased pressure for connectivity from home schooling and family entertainment.

“Existing service providers have failed to deliver on the Gigabit Britain for rural communities. Jurassic Fibre is on a mission to resolve this, with a network made for people that changes the perception of broadband providers for the better, putting the business and home customer first.

“The South West is a great place to live but, without 21st century connectivity, it was struggling to compete with other areas of the UK, where full fibre was readily available. By focusing our efforts on hard to reach areas, such as East Devon, Dorset and Somerset, we have been able to support businesses in local communities by offering them access to world class technology and enhancing their internet capabilities.”

Last week, businesses up and down the UK supported Local Business Week; a campaign created to celebrate and encourage local enterprises. Matt Baker Head of Business Sales comments:
“In the last two years we have been well positioned to build strong relationships with our business neighbours, having been out and about in the local community meeting organisations and gaining a better understanding of their internet challenges.

“We have enjoyed meeting so many inspiring and innovative businesses and helping them solve their broadband issues, at a time when digital connectivity has been vital to the survival of many companies.”

Mark Bailey, Sales & Logistics Manager at MC² Audio in Honiton, says opting for a local broadband company has afforded many benefits:
“We have received fantastic service and support as a business. Choosing a local provider has meant that communication is so much easier and they are on your doorstep to deal with any issues. I would highly recommend Jurassic Fibre as a local business.”

Jurassic Fibre has been providing full fibre connectivity to Woodbury Business Park since Spring 2020. The business park opened in 2009 to offer out of city workspace and create rural employment opportunities. Since then, it has expanded to around 33 business units, comprising offices and warehouses.

Gill Chamberlain, General Manager of Woodbury Business Park says that having better broadband has been transformational:
“We have been really pleased with the broadband since having it installed. The higher bandwidth and faster speeds have been fantastic. We have also found it has helped us attract new businesses to relocate to our business park out of the city centre by being able to offer access to a full fibre connection. We now have a number of tenants within the business park who have made the transition to Jurassic Fibre, with others shortly to be connected.

“Full fibre has become an essential asset and a deciding factor for many businesses looking to relocate.”
Barn Florist, an online wholesaler of dried and preserved flowers and foliage located in Woodbury Business Park, has been a Jurassic Fibre customer for six months:
“Being able to rely on the speed of the broadband to allow wifi calling on mobile phones is invaluable,” says Phil Hart, Co-Founder of Barn Florist.

“The speed and reliability of the service has been brilliant. For us, having full fibre connectivity has been timesaving. When we were setting it up the team were fantastic, really helpful and knowledgeable.”

Matt Baker says Jurassic Fibre is driven to help many more businesses in the region improve their digital connectivity: “Great broadband underpins more of our daily lives than ever before and so faster connection speeds are essential to the vitality and growth of your business.”