Daisy proving to be a good neighbour by providing full fibre conectivity to estate

Nelson-based telecoms provider Daisy Communications is hoping to boost its neighbours’ productivity and increase business opportunities in the locality by providing its home, Lomeshaye Industrial Estate, with full fibre connectivity.

The increased connectivity speeds and the installation of the robust, reliable network will be made possible thanks to a unique partnership between Daisy Communications and alternative network provider ITS.

As the Government promises 100% Gigabit capability by 2025 and with its announcement of Project Speed, ITS is playing a key role in this vision by building a Faster Britain network across the UK, working with its customers and partners to identify the right opportunities and locations to underpin the programme.

By re-using existing infrastructure, Faster Britain builds can be deployed faster than the competition by minimising disruption of intrusive, and often prolonged, digs. A Faster Britain-enabled area will provide full fibre and access to ultrafast connectivity, supporting cloud-enabled and future proof technologies and can be installed in just a matter of weeks.

Current statistics suggest that just 0.95% of Burnley and only 1.75% of Pendle business premises have full fibre connectivity.

However, Daisy Communications looks set to significantly boost those figures by initially making full fibre connectivity available here to more than 230 local businesses as part of its current project.

Dave McGinn, chief executive of Daisy Communications said: “As one of the area’s largest employees, we’ve always strived to give back to the community and, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, we felt we could exercise our corporate responsibility and we looked at how we could support local businesses around us as well as the social communities ourselves and our employees are part of.

“As a result, we used our position to ensure Pendleside Hospice had the funds it needed to build an extra ward, we donated thousands of meals to local foodbanks and we opened up our kitchens so that our catering staff could deliver freshly cooked meals to the homes of the most vulnerable within our society.

“Now that the country is beginning to adapt to the new normal, we want to help businesses in this area thrive and emerge stronger from these difficult times. By partnering with ITS to deliver full fibre connectivity, we’re offering local businesses the chance to upgrade their bandwidth and, in turn, enhance their business and get the edge over their competitors.”

ITS uses a ‘dig once’ approach so, where possible it will use the existing infrastructure, minimising the disruption and lowering the environmental impact of the installation work.

Work began on Lomeshaye in June and the full installation is expected to be completed in August with full fibre connectivity solutions ready for business to take advantage of immediately.

Daren Baythorpe, chief executive of full fibre network operator ITS said: "We’re delighted to be working with Daisy in bringing gigabit capable full fibre connectivity to businesses on Lomeshaye. Connectivity has been vital for businesses to continue to operate during lockdown and will play a critical role in the country's economic recovery as we navigate the new normal post Covid.

“As a business, we focus on building networks reusing existing ducts where we can - quick to build, clean, green and sustainable. We are committed to continuing to play our role in the government's ambitions and now supporting Project Speed, rolling out full fibre networks as part of our Faster Britain programme, working with our partner community to deliver connectivity and broadband where it is needed most."