It happens to the best of us; you’re powering through your most brilliant piece of research, compiling history’s most eloquent and thoughtfully crafted email, or simply amassing the most impressive online shopping basket known to man, when your internet connection slows to a sudden and horrifying halt.
Well, such fears could now be allayed as the government launches an ingenious new incentive to help burgeoning companies tackle this decidedly first world problem: a £100m broadband connection voucher scheme designed to assist the reported 90% of start-up companies relying on internet connection to further their entrepreneurial reach and subsequent profit margin.
The visionary new scheme follows surprising figures from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) suggesting that in a technologically booming environment, only a small proportion of apparently enterprising firms are currently trading online and many are operating with sub-standard connections that are not entirely fit-for-purpose.
The government’s novel initiative has thus been unveiled in an attempt to encourage exploitation of the opportunities for expansion that new media can afford. We live in a world where more and more business is generated online; buyers and sellers invariably turn to the net for goods and services. As such, the importance of fast and efficient internet provisions cannot be overstated for those companies looking to grow and thrive in a fiercely competitive global market.
By allowing qualified entrants to apply for a grant of anything up to £3,000 – covering the incurred expenses of installing super-fast broadband – the Connection Vouchers scheme seeks to help maximise the potential of individual corporations and facilitate growth of the sector in reaching overseas markets. It will also act to aid in the creation of jobs, and ultimately acting to boost what, in case you hadn’t heard, is a fragile UK and European economy. 
