South Yorkshire SMEs access to £40m worth of broadband funding could be short-lived as funding is not renewed in the Chancellor's recent budget.
Whatever your thoughts on George Osbourne's recent budget statement, one thing it told us is that when the current Government Connection Voucher scheme pot of £40m runs out it won't be renewed, and that could be bad news for businesses in Sheffield, Doncaster, Barnsley and Rotherham.
Short-lived
South Yorkshire's place on the scheme was only announced in the budget last year, largely due to the ill-fated Digital Region infrastructure being in place when the scheme first started in 2013, and at the time the representatives of the local bid were open enough to suggest that local companies might only have 12 months to have a crack at the funding.
However, this 12 months is now looking more like 7 months.
The £40m pot was always a fixed pot accessible on a first come, first served basis, but with a big upsurge in claims during this tax year, the pot is currently predicted to run out by October or November 2015.
Spread the word
This is why it's more important than ever to spread the news about this funding to make sure that every South Yorkshire company that can access the funding, does so.
Please help us bring as much of this funding into South Yorkshire as we can as once it's gone, it's gone - and it could go to Leeds or London instead!