Andrew Mitchell MP hails broadband boost for Sutton Coldfield businesses

Sutton’s MP has been seeing first-hand how small businesses in Sutton Coldfield are benefitting from advances in technology. During a visit to the Adkins Research Group he was given an insight into how the company, based in Midland Drive, has transformed the way it works since switching to high-speed fibre broadband.

The Adkins Research Group was one of the first town centre businesses to upgrade to faster fibre broadband after it was installed as part of an innovative partnership between Sutton BID and Openreach, BT’s local network business, designed to make the technology more widely available in the Town Centre.

Andrew Mitchell said “the difference that this faster fibre broadband can make is impressive. I am glad that the BID and BT are working closely together to ensure that as many of my constituents – both residents and businesses – can take advantage of this faster broadband as possible”.

Jack Adkins, Managing Director of ARG – whose work spans everything from medical research to cake sampling for major retailers – said “We record focus groups here on both video and audio. In this fast-moving world, our clients want to receive them as quickly as possible so they can be analysed straight away. Fibre optic broadband has changed the way we work for the better because the broadband download speeds we are now getting are ten times faster than before. It is like comparing the water output of a domestic tap to a fire hose, in terms of flow!”

Mr Mitchell was also give an insight into how the roll-out of faster fibre broadband is benefitting families, residents, homeworkers and other business throughout Sutton Coldfield and the wider area by BT’s regional manager, Ian Binks.

Ian Binks said “Partnerships like this one in Sutton Coldfield are an innovative way to extend the reach of fibre broadband, which is now accessible to more than 1.98 million homes and businesses across the West Midlands region thanks to the investment of companies like BT and other organisations. But we recognise that there is still much more to do and we are committed to making the technology as widely available as possible as quickly as possible”.

Mike Bushell, Sutton Coldfield Town Centre BID manager said "I'm really grateful to Andrew for taking the time to meet with Jack Adkins, myself and our colleagues from Openreach, and giving us the opportunity to show him why our superfast broadband initiative is important. Part of the BID’s work includes such ‘behind-the-scenes’ infrastructure initiatives as this to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to make Sutton Coldfield a better place to live and work, and this is a great example."

Following his meeting, Sutton’s MP took the opportunity to tour the facilities at Adkins Research Group and meet some of their apprentices to discuss how they were finding their apprenticeships and the experience they had gained through working at ARG.

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