Project ACCESS has now finished!!

For the last 7 years Project ACCESS has been helping Cumbria step into the broadband age. Unfortunately the project has come to its natural end and has been a successful broadband project, but if you still require help or information on broadband please follow the links on the left hand side of this page.

Before the project began there was a very poor availability of affordable high speed telecommunication services in Cumbria. This limited business growth and restricted choice amongst consumers. Project ACCESS which was a government broadband project provided a world class telecommunications infrastructure to the county, which has allowed Cumbrian businesses and households to adopt high bandwidth, high speed internet. In turn this has provided Cumbrian businesses with a level playing field by increasing the business broadband adoption which helps when  competing with companies in the UK and also within world markets.

The project looked at the broadband analysis of the UK and compared these to Cumbria, the business broadband project looked to increase broadband usage in Cumbria, with the take-up of broadband higher business benefit from information and services never before an option or affordable.

Along with this infrastructure, Project ACCESS has sought to raise awareness of the benefits of broadband to Cumbrian businesses. We visited companies large and small to evaluate and understand their needs and explain the benefits of broadband in terms which were relevant to their respective businesses. Over 2500 businesses were directly assisted in this way. The broadband statistics below show what we have achieved in Cumbria throughout the last 7 years:

Increased business adoption of broadband in Cumbria from 27% to over 75%, 12% higher than the UK average.

Ensured that more than 99.5% of Cumbrians can now get a broadband connection, only 77 businesses in the whole of Cumbria are unable to get broadband.

Contacted over 23,800 out of the 26,000 estimated businesses in Cumbria

Visited over 4,000 businesses within Cumbria.

Directly assisted over 2,500 business in getting a broadband connection.

Assisted many more businesses by hosting events and presentations on subjects such as e-procurement, e-commerce and VoIP.

If you require any further information on Project ACCESS please call Commendium Ltd on 01768 838230, call the North West Development Agency on 01923 400100 or visit their website at www.nwda.co.uk