A POUNDBURY company is keen to see more businesses benefitting from the installation of superfast broadband.

Dorset County Council has revealed plans for the whole of Dorchester and Poundbury covered by the superfast broadband by the end of 2015.

Key Multimedia, a web development and online marketing firm based in Great Cranford Street, are hoping they will soon be enjoying high speed fibre optic broadband after their local cabinet was switched on recently.

David Lakins, who founded the company in 2007, said he was excited about the huge opportunities faster broadband will bring to the company, with so much of its work web-based.

The team of six at Key Multimedia work on web development, search engine optimisation and managing social media activities for a range of clients around the country.

They worked with Weymouth and Portland Borough Council on the social media campaign for the 2012 Olympic sailing events and major clients include the Duchy of Cornwall, the British Holiday Homes and Parks Association and the British Society of Audiology.

Mr Lakins said: “It’s absolutely crucial given the fact there are six or seven of us online all day every day.

“We share a lot of stuff and have a fair amount of large media files.”

He added that one of his team also works remotely from Winchester three days a week, which requires access to things like Skype and Google Hangouts as well as the ability to share stuff electronically.

Mr Lakins said that having faster broadband would be a huge boost for his firm and the availability of it could even entice more people to set up businesses in the area.

He said: “Having fibre optic would make a difference.

“One of the things we like to push is we really love being in West Dorset and all the guys are local.

“Having fibre optic would enable us to compete with Bournemouth and Poole, that is who I see as our competition.

“Everybody that comes and sees us in the office likes coming here and it would open up more opportunities for things like online training we can do with our clients and video chat.”

Mr Lakins also urged companies in areas where fibre optic connections have been installed to make the most of the opportunity and get connected to the network.

He said: “It’s about making people aware what you can do with it.”

Work ongoing to improve fibre optic network

A SPOKESMAN for Dorset County Council said there was currently work ongoing to bring several more premises onto the fibre optic network by the end of the year.

She said that on top of that there was more work planned for next year that would give the whole of the county town access to superfast broadband by the end of 2015.

The spokesman said: “The work we are doing is filling in the gaps left by the private sector roll out a couple of years ago. We are on track to deliver at locations where we planned by the end of this year.”

She added that Dorset County Council was contracted to provide superfast broadband to 95 per cent of Dorset premises by the end of 2016 and broadband of at least 2mpbs (megabits per second) to 100 per cent of premises in that time scale.

To find out more for the broadband roll out visit dorsetforyou.com/superfast