Manchester business hub gets fibre optic broadband

A conference centre in central Manchester that houses a number of the city's high-profile companies has gained access to fibre optic broadband.

The installation has come courtesy of service provider Metronet (UK), which was chosen to carry out the work by the government as part of its Super Connected Cities voucher scheme.

Kings House conference centre is now enjoying superfast speeds of around 30Mbps, compared to a previous service that ran at an average speed nearly four times slower.

Central Manchester and Salford were two of the first locations to get an upgrade as a result of the project, which has been funded by ring-fenced government grants.

Project bosses will now monitor the success of the installation and - if deemed viable - they will potentially extend the fibre optic rollout to another 22 UK locations.

Chief Executive of Metronet (UK) Elliot Mueller said: “We have seen the voucher scheme make a real difference to charities, startups and more established businesses alike who would not ordinarily have been able to afford high speed internet services.”