Wales Office Minister Alun Cairns visited Newport SMEs last week to find out first hand the impact of the Super Connected Cities scheme on businesses in the city, following an announcement by The Chancellor that up to £40m has been committed to extend the Super Connected Cities programme, meaning it has been extended to March 2016 in Newport.

He visited Satellite Finance Limited and Global Business Events Limited, which are both based at Clarence House in the city centre, before heading across the river to the Alacrity Foundation.

He also met with the supplier of this superfast broadband, Chepstow-based Spectrum Internet, which has taken on additional staff since the announcement.

Businesses, charities and social enterprises in Newport which want faster, more reliable broadband are able to get vouchers worth up to £3,000 to support broadband connection upgrades. The voucher scheme is underpinned by the UK Government’s provision of £69m to improve broadband access to homes and businesses in Wales under the Superfast Cymru programme as part of its wider £1bn investment in broadband infrastructure across the UK.

Mr Cairns said: "Providing world-class internet access to small businesses in Wales is crucial. They are the engine of job creation across Wales and the backbone of the Welsh economy.

"I am thrilled to see firsthand the positive impact the Super Connected Cities programme is having on these successful Welsh SMEs and hope the extension of the programme will see further take up of this scheme as we continue to invest in unprecedented levels of infrastructure across Wales."

Jon Beese, of Satellite Finance, said: "Our broadband speed was very slow and was hindering the business. I saw on Twitter about the vouchers on offer through the Super Connected City scheme and thought we should go for it.

"We've got superfast broadband now. Our speeds have gone from 1mb to 38mb and this has meant we've been able to take on four new members of staff, with another two being taken on in the next few weeks.

"It has been fantastic and means we can now do more business and work a lot faster.

"People may think that there is a catch, but there isn't," he said.

Neil Williams, of Global Business Events, said that having superfast broadband was crucial to his business as his staff do a lot of research about potential customers online.

He said: "Before we changed the broadband was very inconsistent. We would have long periods when it would not be working effectively. Since we changed it has been great and great for the business."