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 communication, 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. 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 making a road trip less onerous, particularly at known traffic blackspots; and First Great Western now runs more, faster inter-city trains to London, with journey times now under 4 ½ hours.

It's often said that modern communications have led to the death of distance. Nowhere is this more true than in 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.