Business Communications

At the Cutting Edge of Communication

Cornwall has played a key role in national and international communication for over 300 years - and it's still very much at the forefront today.

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, Falmouth was the nerve centre of Britain's maritime communications, with the 'packet ships' that operated out of the port delivering mail to every country in the British Empire.

Then, in 1901, a new era dawned when Giuglielmo Marconi transmitted the first transatlantic wireless signal from a cliff-top mast at Poldhu on the Lizard Peninsula. The Lizard Peninsula again took the lead at the cutting edge of technology in 1962 with the first live transatlantic television signal via satellite from Goonhilly Downs.

The Death of Distance

Cornwall's businesses have been quick to take up the opportunities offered by the convergence of telecommunications and the Internet. High speed broadband has been rolled out rapidly across the county, helped by subsidies that dramatically reduce installation and subscription costs, and now covers 99% of the county.

Cornwall will also be the first county in the UK to take advantage of Next Generation broadband - ensuring super fast broadband coverage to businesses and making it one of Europe's best connected regions.

At the same time, improved air, road, rail and sea links have made access to national and international urban centres easier than ever: Newquay Cornwall airport has undergone redevelopment and now provides regular flights to London, other parts of the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe; the A30, the main trunk road into Cornwall, has been enhanced, thus making a road trip less onerous; and First Great Western now runs more frequent and faster inter-city trains to London, with journey times now under four and a half hours.

It's often said that 'modern communications have led to the death of distance'. This is especially true with Cornwall. More and more businesses are realising what this means: there's no longer any need to choose between quality of life and success in business.