Published on:
18
May 2012
Clackmannanshire Council, working with partners to deliver a faster and more consistent broadband service to residents and businesses across Clackmannanshire, have carried out a survey involving both businesses and the community.
As part of this work, the Council is working alongside Stirling Council and other partners, including Forth Valley and Lomond Leader, to deliver a pilot project called ClacksMax.
Clackmannanshire and Stirling Councils conducted an online survey with businesses between August 2011 and February 2012 to gather evidence on the following:
- Broadband download and upload speeds by geography;
- Information on how broadband is used by businesses; and
- Information on any current issues with broadband service provision.
The evidence gathered will be used by the Councils to support funding applications to improve the existing broadband infrastructure across the Clackmannanshire and Stirling Council areas. The download speeds and post-code information collected by the survey will also be used to map broadband speeds across the area.
The survey was publicised widely by the Councils and the local and community press. A total of 248 businesses completed the survey after networking with staff from the local authorities, with replies from businesses based in:
- Stirling Council area - 75.8%
- Clackmannanshire Council area - 23.4%
A total of 916 returns were received to the communities broadband survey, with replies from residents based in:
- Stirling Council area - 62.3%
- Clackmannanshire Council area - 37.2%
Nearly all respondents (99%) had upload speeds of 2 MB or less.
The project is aimed at providing a new wireless broadband service in parts of Clackmannanshire and rural Stirling. Initially focused on Alloa West, Tillicoultry, Bandeath and Touch Business Parks and nearby villages of Throsk, Cambusbarron and South Alloa, this pilot service will be in place by the end of the year.
Research has shown that businesses that adopt broadband-based processes can improve their employees' labour productivity on average by 5% in the manufacturing centre and by 10% in the service sector.
The Scottish Government has targets to deliver broadband speeds of at least 2Mbit/s to all homes and businesses by 2015 and 24Mbit/s to 90%, also by 2015.
The Government will soon make a limited amount of funding available to help achieve this ambition.
Clackmannanshire Council, in partnership with Stirling Council, hopes to make a further successful bid for funding to help ensure that high speed broadband is available to people in all parts of both Council areas.